True Colours
by DanielleLPattz
Summary: POST TWS: After Bucky left his Best Friend on the riverbank, he had no other option but to run - but when an accident stops Bucky in his tracks, Maggie, a fragile Red Headed Nurse happens to be his savior. How will Bucky cope with his past? What will it mean for both of their futures? And what if Maggie isn't just the normal weak girl, Bucky initially thought? #FutureSmut
1. Chapter One - BAM!

**Hiya all!**

**So here is a new fanfic, different from any of my others. As you have probably already guest the Marvel World has taken claim to me and after watching the recent release of 'Winter Soldier' and with a little inspiration from my friend here is a new story. **

**Unlike my other stories my chapters will be shorter, leaving me able to publish the chapters much more quicker. (I don't know how long the chapters will remain short. I have a habit of getting carried away)**

**So when writing my lead female, Maggie, I picture someone along the lines of Emma Stone/Jane Levy (Red hair), but picture who you will :)**

**Hope you enjoy, see you at the bottom.**

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**Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything. I'm just borrowing a few characters, for personal entertainment. No Copyright Intended.**

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**CHAPTER ONE**

The war might have been over for one day, but the city was still in chaos, the people littering the streets of Washington DC, sirens, helicopters, speeding wailing cars. The majority of the damage was done to the Triskelion Building and Roosevelt Island, but the streets were full of yelling people, in some way nursing a hurt friend, family member, passers-by doing as much as they could. Flames of fallen parts of the Helicarriers we're ablaze upon the street, cars crushed and burnt out, rubble everywhere, a complete war-zone.h

The army had everything cut off, Roosevelt Bridge, east and west side of the Island, the secret service in mayhem protecting The White House and the surrounding areas. Heaviness lay within the hearts of everyone who was around to witness the catastrophe, having no idea of the cause, whether they were safe, or the sheer danger of what they were saved from.

But in the midst of it all; the weapon of the enemy, the escapee, the brainwashed rescuer of Captain America himself, was attempting to free himself from the turmoil. The powers over his own mind almost too much to bear. How could so many people know so much about him and yet he knew nothing? The walls of the Smithsonian building having been covered with his mission's face, but more distressing, his own, and with it unlocked an ocean of images.

Even for a superhuman that he was he found himself struggling to breathe, struggling for understanding and a grasp of anything recognizable. All he knew was war and battle and he was surrounded in it, but none of it felt safe. He felt a surge of need to return to his masters, to face the punishment for failing his mission, but whenever he thought of such thing, more and more images were impregnated into his memory, voices, smells, emotions foreign to him. His own mind was beginning to run its own course.

After leaving the museum, he found himself back on the streets finding the nearest escape route. There were screams and cries of people asking for help. People were in pain, he couldn't help wondering why they were so helpless. Wondering if this was all it was to be human, a helpless wreck.

Racing across town was a young red head, blazed horn attempting to get cars to move to let her through. She wailed at crowded onlookers of the chaos to move so she could get to the hospital. Today was supposed to be her day off; she'd had many of plans, all of them mundane to most people, doing some laundry, clean her kitchen, eat junk food and later maybe crawl up in bed and watch re-runs of Seinfeld, but they were plans nonetheless, definitely not ones she would be able to carry out now.

She'd been loading her quarters into the dryer when the screams and clatters began, moments later a news flash. She was glued to the TV screen as everyone else, that feeling of dread that takes ahold of everyone's heart. With her basket of smalls she'd rushed out the doors like everyone else to see the sight with her own eyes across the city. Her initial reaction was to help, but not in the way of heading off to the hospitals, ready to help the mounds of people, but then she remembered her rationality.

In her car, she set to driving across town, at least attempting too. While she feared for the city and the deeper issues that were taking place, she couldn't help but try and contract her sister. She knew not to expect an answer, but of course your mind is going to run wild with you, especially when you know your family member might be inside the exact Triskelion Building which has been hit by the carrier.

The sea of people would not move, no matter how much she screamed she was just not being heard. The battle was over, and the threat seemingly taken care of, but the result of the attack was in its wake.

"To hell with this!" Speaking to herself, Maggie, roared the engine and took her car up upon the sidewalk, that was reasonable vacant. Taking the car down an alley wasn't the wisest decision, but she felt a great urgency to get to the hospital and help. She needed to help. Her hands were already shaking, itching with their own ideas of how to help.

Slapping the palms of her hands against the steering wheel helps her get to grips of herself from crumbling.

Weaving her way through the alley like side streets, she sees a clearing up ahead and she is about to break out back onto the main road when out steps a figure and before she could swerve to avoid or break it was too late and she hits him, an almighty clatter as he hits the hoods and bounces off.

Her breath is taken from her, the world is spinning as she fumbles to get out of the car.

"Oh my god. Oh my god" She rushes over to the collapsed body.

He had near enough made his escape when he sees three men attempting to climb in a car that had overturned; inside a bleeding unconscious woman, with a wailing child in the back. Bucky with his visor covering his eyes, just carried on walking. He heard more shouting of help, he couldn't help. Could he? He could kill. His mission wasn't to help. But he had dragged that man from the water. That man who seemed to know him so well. But he was not that person; he was not this Bucky no matter what visions came back to him. They had the wrong man. After all he was not a man but a machine…, a man could not do the things he has done.

Bewilderment and dazed mind tarnishing his concentration and before he could grasp reality he is being thrown against something hard, and flung through the air to collide with another surface, his arm, the broken one along with his head taking the brunt of the force.

"Oh god, Sir?! Sir, can you hear me?" A muffled voice hits his eyes before anything else, the consciousness of what happened dawning on him and the feeling that someone is close, extremely close. The metal arm has a mind of its own, fighting with the ground to regain his feet.

"Thank heavens!" The voice again, this time it doesn't seem so under water, "Please, stay where you are. You're going to be okay. I'm a nurse." And suddenly he feels somebody on him, and there is only one way for him to react. Attack.

With his robotic arm forcing his weight from the ground he has no other option but to use his maimed arm to strike. He had only raised it half way toward his target when a sheering pain claims inside of his head, a piercing roar vibrating in waves from him and bouncing off each surrounding building, sending fear rippling down everyone's spines.

Blood and fire pollutes his mind, ice and pain, there was no air. In the back of his neck it choked him, his body being sent into a wild seizure.

Maggie had seen death, she had seen and felt pain, she had tried to stop it, but the sight before her places her into a state of shock as the huge man bawls out in agony, his body jerking and jolting upon the ground. Her initial thought was an epileptic fit, but she had seen these so many times before. This was not that.

She ran through all the possibilities, getting him into the position she had been trained to do in a situation similar to this. Heaving him onto his side, before peeling off her leather jacket. Doing her best to prize his mouth open, she manages to fill his mouth with the sleeve, trapping his tongue so he doesn't bite down and do any damage.

"Whats wrong with him?" Came a chorus of adolescence voices, who were now crowding her. Glancing up for a second to see a group of teenage boys with their bikes watching on with interest and wonderment.

"Does anyone have a Cell? Call Emergency Services now!" She orders them, before moving around to hold his head upon her lap in order to keep him from causing any more damage to his head.

For Maggie all the noise in the world had drowned into a big black whole and all that remained were her own thoughts. From telling herself to help him, attempting to remember everything she had been trained to do while her conscience is screaming at her that she could have killed him. That he would die, and it would be all her fault, and she was helpless to do anything about it.

"Please… please don't give up on me. Please!" She cranes her head to plead into his ear. Reaching out her hand to rub his arm in a gesture of comfort, but is forced to raises her eyes when she is denied the ability to feel flesh beneath his hoody. Instead something solid – something metal.

Careful to make sure his head remains on her lap, she pulls at his zipper and hood to pull it over her shoulders. She had come to her own conclusions of what lived below the hood in replacement of the arm, and she had been right. But even at a glimpse this was not some normal prosthetic arm, and the bold red star that sat feature to his deltoid confirmed that on sight.

She quickly draws her hands back to herself in horror.

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*Bites nails* So I hope you like it. I know there isn't much to it really and its short, but I promise I have a story. Hold with it.

Now I'm off to start chapter four (Yes I'm a little ahead)

If you feel like it and have the time please drop us a review :) whatever it is you have to say.

Danielle  
xx


	2. Chapter Two - Whats The Damage?

**Hey Y'all, **

**So I'm here again, second post within 24 hours. Well seeing at the first chapter was so short and not all that much going on I thought I'd get the second chapter out there for you.**

**I'm quite surprised that I even got any reviews for my first chapter, so a big shout out to MiKaBlackPoynter, S****cooby Lady and MyKillJoyRomance ****for the reviews. Thank you, really appreciated it :)**

**Now to the story, let me know what you think of Maggie.**

**Now READ! ;)**

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******Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything. I'm just borrowing a few characters, for personal entertainment. No Copyright Intended.**

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CHAPTER II

"How long has he been out?"

Maggie looks away from the large man on the table, to another man, his largeness mainly around the girth. He uses his palm to push his glasses back to the bridge of his nose, before itching at his bead, the long course hairs that were quite impressive for a man in his early to mid-twenties.

"An hour… maybe a bit more. He was having a seizure…" She was unnervingly pacing back and forth the length of the table where the mysterious man was still safely unconscious. And when she said safely, she wasn't thinking of his safety. "Lasted about 10 minutes, he must have been in a lot of plan. Billy, I'm sorry. I didn't know where to go or what to do. Half of me was telling me to leave him there in the street, the other part telling me to take him to S.H.I.E.L.D, but it all seems to be compromised… I just… I didn't know who to trust and then I drove and somehow ended up here" Her voice was getting quicker and higher in pitch, before she felt a grip on her arm.

Looking to the small round man who attempted to calm her, she finally takes a breath.

"Well firstly, come down an octave or two. Then… help me get him to the basement. The last thing we need is my mother coming down" He offers a few steps of a plan, and for now she was happy to oblige, and the two of them set to work at getting him down the stairs.

"So you trust me?" Billy's lips quirk as we haul the man down into the basement. Rather than a basement, it was a whole Triskelion building fit into one small damp room.

With a flash of an eye roll, that was the only answer Maggie was willing to give, it was the only answer she needed to give.

Having securely settled him onto the make-shift hospital bed, Maggie adds a final touch of a pillow under his head. Despite the feeling she might be best using the pillow to smoother him she was willing to keep him alive a little while longer. At least to answer a few questions.

The two of them stare at each other for what felt like a millennium, neither sure of the actions they should take from here. No doubt both of their minds running away with them, as to the possibilities of who he was, what he was, what he was capable of, and also what of his agenda. In this world, the possibilities were endless. But Maggie knew of that mark on his arm. And after the tragedy of the day neither of their thoughts could deem to be melodramatic.

Among all of events she was laying witness too, Maggie couldn't ignore the fear for her sister, and suddenly recalls her phone. With both hands she begins to explore her pockets until the left lays claim to the small piece of technology.

"I have to make a call" She turns away from her friend and begins to rush up the stairs with a bewildered, and slightly frightened Billy calling after her.

"Hi, I'm unable to pick up the phone right now. You know what to do." BEEP…

"Answer your phone!" Maggie tears open the cupboard door and pulls out a glass, "For godsakes… just call me. I need to know you're okay." She throws her phone down upon the counter as though it was acid, before reminding her to take steady deep breaths. But how could she calm down? Right now the whole of Washington DC was pandemonium, she didn't know if her sister, her only living family, was dead or alive and to top it all off she might well be hoarding a weapon of mass destruction. And here she was hoping a glass of water might help.

Well at least it offered her a moment of solitude. And it was only meant to be a moment at that, for she hadn't the time to even get her breath or bearings together before there is a wary call from downstairs,

"Uh… Maggie. We have a problem"

And once again she is on the move. Back in the basement she sees Billy struggling with the body, the metal legs jingling with strain as the body writhers as another seizure takes claim.

Again this one seemed as long as the last, a lifetime passing by, wondering when he would stop, if the bed would give way, if he would wake up. And if so what would be greeting them?

The night moved slowly, five more voicemails were left, and two knives lay in arms reach of the two friends. Billy had taken up a seat at his computer system, delving into finding out what was going on. Maggie on the other hand had needed to find an escape for her overactive mind, and rummaged through the house looking for anything that might help tend to the mysterious man's injuries.

Billy seemed all set for any situation, one of the reasons she had come here in the first place. Restraining the guest upon the table only seemed like a wise thing to do, she couldn't see any negatives, apart from the leather straps not looking strong enough and that his real arm was so badly broken and dislocated she couldn't bind that limb. Why she set to attending to that first.

With scissors she was able to cut the clothing from him to reveal the severely injured arm that was covered in yellowing bruises. Well at least he could bruise. He was human.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Billy appears behind her, peering over her shoulder, watching her hands consciously feel at his arm. They might have sedated him, but neither of them was willing to feel too relaxed just yet.

"I think so. Yes" She corrects and whips the trickle of sweat that was accumulating in her eyebrow, "But I'm no surgeon, I don't have the tools to mend it properly. It's broken in three places as far as I can tell without x-ray. Only option I have is to try and reposition the bones and set it, and then hope for the best."

Billy finds himself nodding along slowly, "Or we could put him in your car and dump him in the nearest quarry"

"Or that" She agrees, with a small chime that resembled humour.

With Billy acting on her orders, they set to firstly relocating his shoulder. It wasn't much of a struggle being as she had done it many times before, not necessarily on people unconscious, and without the strength of the muscle to help, but they popped it back into place, before getting started on the broken bones.

By the end a discoloured Billy had vacated the room for a moment or two to attempt to settle his stomach and rid his memory of the sound of bone rubbing against bone.

She allowed herself a few moments of pride at her handy work. She hoped it would hurt him when he woke. She seemed to have already made her mind up on him. And yet here she was still fixing his cuts and bruises. She couldn't understand why she felt so obliged, she only knew that she did. Perhaps it was to do with the past, maybe even to feel useful. Whatever the reason, she was in the middle of the situation and only time would tell of what it would achieve.

Rinsing out her cloth in the sterile bath, she moves to take care of the abrasions to his head area. She still could not explain the causes of the seizures, nor to what triggered his pain. But something told her your average doctor wouldn't be able to either.

She recalled he had been wearing a baseball cap on collision, but it must be either on the road where he 'fell' or in her car. Either way it was gone, and now his long dark hair was a tangled mess in disarray. She swept it away, dabbing his forehead with the cloth, one eye on him, the other on the TV, where the latest news report was taking place.

Apparently the world was safe and Captain America had once again saved the day. Turns out he was just fine and would live to tell the tale.

"Oh yeah, he's okay but what about everyone else? Not in a rush to report about that are you?" Maggie questions the oblivious blonde, busty news anchor, who rabbited on in fan girl style of how heroic, brave and selfless he was.

"Oh girl, you may as well get on your knees and beg him to come find you on live television. You wouldn't look any more desperate."

After that immaturity and her anger poured out for the girl on the screen, "Oh Captain America, you're so brave. You're so strong." For some reason her mimic of the anchor applies a southern accent. "Let me have your babies. Let me wriggle my fake breasts in your face and flutter my false lashes at you…" Her personal moment of irritation was mixed with a heavy handed rubbing to the mystery guests, forehead, which was interrupted by a grumbling noise.

At least what she thought to be from him, but there was no sound after.

She drops the flannel and clasps the edge of the bed, either side of his head, closing her eyes as the emotions chip away at her. Rolling back and forth on her heels as she tries to get a grip on herself while her failure to do so begins to moisten her lashes. The feeling inside of her gut was striving to comfort her with its conviction that her sister was okay. But she just craved the certainty.

It had never been a secret to her that there were things in the world more dangerous and complicated than most people convince themselves we're real, or belonged in storybooks. Nowadays with the recent attacks, nobody could really deny the real world we live in unless they were fools. But I could understand why people tried so hard not to expect it. It doesn't matter how many heroes you have fighting to save the world and save so many lives, you can't ease the fear of what they are needed for.

For some people it eats away at them, drives them to insanity. Other people travel to the other side of the world hoping to escape, while most people have no other option but to accept the fear and carry on with their lives.

Maggie was thankful of the heroes, people and even gods risking their lives, doesn't mean she can't help wishing they didn't have to.

Her spluttered whimpers and inhale of breath is caught in her drying throat by a vibration across the other side of the room. She was across the other side of the room in record time, she knew who was calling, and the relief was rather overwhelming.

"I'm fine. I've only just got home." Her sisters voice is followed by a wince of pain, she tries to cover up.

"What's the damage?" Maggie asks.

"You know I couldn't say if I wanted to"

Maggie rolls her dehydrating green eyes, "To you. What happened to you?"

"Oh… nothing, just a few cuts and bruises. Ribs are a little tender but it's nothing a bath and a Nicholas Sparks movie won't fix" Her older sister certainly knew how to set her at ease, sometimes. Being an Agent doesn't stop you being a woman, nor indulging in a romance now and again.

"Well you know what gets my vote. So you're definitely okay?" Just wanting to make sure, seems natural. There is no doubt she wouldn't feel the same if roles were reversed. It was for the best her sister didn't know the ins and outs of where she was and more importantly who she was with.

"Listen to you being the concerned sister for a change. Yes, I'm fine. What about you?"

For a second her eyes glimpse to the man, and she was just in the midst of looking away when her brow knitted together and sent her eyes straight on back to him.

A feeling of familiarity presented itself from nowhere, urging her feet closer. In all this time she had been so distracted by everything else, i.e. the steel robotic arm that she hadn't paid all too much attention to what lay north of it.

She knew that face, but how wasn't letting her in on that secret just yet.

The red head had been so distracted by RoboCop, that her mind hadn't registered her sisters voice, until it began producing worry.

"Uh… what? Sorry?"

"Mags, Are you there? Are you okay?"

Maggie swallowed hard ready to answer with conviction, "Of course, sorry the hospital is so busy. I don't know which way to turn"

"I dread to imagine" she believed her younger sisters explanation, and why shouldn't she? "I better let you get on and I'll see you soon?"

"Uh… oh yeah, might come around tomorrow, let me know when okay?" Focusing on her sister for a moment,

"I will. I'll look forward to it. I'll see you then" There is a moment's pause between the two siblings, before both of them murmur a simple 'love you'. Neither of the two says it all too often but in times like this it makes you realize you should.

With the phone tucked back into her pocket, her fingers extend hesitantly and for a moment she resists, rubbing her finger tips together feeling a slight tingle, before finding courage. The sense of touch feels the slight roughness of his forehead in contrast with the smoothness of his nose. She doesn't expect to recall by feel, but his profile is so recognizable.

Her finger rests upon his pinched pointed nose.

"Shit!" Her hand pulls back as she notices a pair of eyes peering up at her. They were so pale, but sunken and dark. When she moved they did not follow, only staring hollowly up to the damp stained ceiling.

Her first actions are to reach for the knife, and she has it firmly in hand, but his heavy lids begin to flutters and his iris rolling up to hide behind them. For a moment she thought he would seizure again, but instead his eyes just close and he's gone.

She is mid wave of her hand over his face, when it jumps upon her. The face, the memory. A name suddenly ringing a bell.

She finds herself sitting at Billy's computer, pulling up google. '_Barnes_' she remembered,

_'John?, 'Jake?' Ja…. James? James? James! James Barnes._

Oh how that sounded so familiar, so into google she typed.

In the search came up a series of pictures of aging men, followed by listings for and American Author and Composer, followed by a criminal on death row. She barely needed to scroll the page before the name 'Captain America', in big bold blue letters jump out at her.

Double clicking the link, Wikipedia announces itself with a picture demolishes any improbability.

A laugh of disbelief ripples within her chest as she gawps at the screen. How is it that the world still has its ability to surprise her?

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So there you have it! Yeah Maggie is all over the place with her emotions, but is handling it all far better then I would be.

Then again I would be licking an unconscious Bucky *Clears throat* yes I really did just say that didn't I? Well who's with me?

I'm working on Chapter 5 right now, love staying ahead.

Anyway feel free to comment in a review, let me know what you think. Good or bad, I can handle it. I hope...

Take care  
Danielle  
xx


	3. Chapter 3 - Rita Hayworth And Shawshank

**Helloooo my lovelies,**

**So summer is here, bringing with it time for fun and lots of smiles, so I'm in an incredibly good mood so here's the next chapter.**

**So without delay, just read and I hope you enjoy :)**

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**Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything.**

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CHAPTER III

TWO DAYS LATER

"So are you hungry?" The blonde one of the sisters makes a beeline for the kitchen, to put the ice cream in the freezer for later.

"You're kidding, I could eat a horse" The Red headed sister, glances over her shoulder before scanning the bookshelf for anything that might stand out to her. The internet was helpful, especially with the insight Billy has with all this hacking and gadgets, but there was nothing on why, nothing on how it was possible. Of course it was simple enough to grasp that whatever Steve Rogers had been through, this serum, James or 'Bucky' had been through the same or similar.

But this wasn't enough for Maggie, her lust for knowledge thrived to know everything there was to know about the man she was hoarding in the basement of her friends mothers suburban home. She slips a couple of books into her bag and then leaves it by the sofa, just as her sister returns to the room with a few menu's and a glass of wine and beer balanced in hand.

We both avert our attention to the far wall of the apartment where a nuisance drilling noise fills the apartment from next door.

"Renovating" The older sister announces, while the younger just nods.

"I guess movie night is off the cards?"

"No! I'll tell him to shut up by that point. He's eager to please" She declares, leaving Maggie with an arched brow of insinuation.

"Really?" Of course she is being suggestive, and it is increased when a slight pinking begins to form in her usually fair cheeks. "Tell me!" Maggie encourages her sister while taking the beer from her and making herself comfortable upon the sofa.

"Mags there isn't anything to tell. Yes he's a good looking guy and a real gentleman but…"

"Nooo…" Maggie whines, "Come on, Kate, don't say 'But' to me. I need a little romance in my life, and if it means I have to watch it through you… well that's the next best thing" Her plump pink lips are sucked into her mouth and clasped in her teeth, representing a playful and mischievous mood.

"I don't know what to say, we've only ever muttered a few words to each other here and there. Plus he's all wrapped up in his career, I'm swimming in mine. The time will come… as will yours. Whatever happened to… Henry, was it?"

"Harry" Maggie corrected, "Oh we had Irreconcilable differences."

"Oh?" Kate shifts closer to her sister.

"Yeah, umm, he thought that because I was a nurse I spent my life in suspenders and a PVC mini dress" Maggie's lips screw up and pucker to the right, "Plus…" Her little finger leaves its grip on the bottle, beginning to curl and wriggle the smallest of her fingers, while pushing her tongue into her cheek.

Her sister caught on to the simulation and both laughing in unison, "That bad?"

"Oh T-errible!" They continue laughing and for both of them it felt good. Finally find an escape and a moment for them to be silly, and laugh. Enjoy some freedom from the darkness that loomed in both of their minds.

Overall the night was a success. Both girls managed to relax and gossip, caught up on everything unimportant in the world. Pigged out on Chinese food and watched Ryan Gosling brood over Rachel McAdams. They left the subject of work off the agenda, neither of them felt like delving into that tonight. Only Maggie had to give the excuse of being busy at work, as to why she wasn't able to come by the night before like had been arranged.

There and then they were nothing but sisters, neither of them were an Agent or in possession of a possible serial killer. They lived in an ordinary world, with normal things to talk about, and normal men to gush over.

"You sure you don't want to stay the night?" Kate addresses Maggie who was pulling on her jacket and positions her bag upon her shoulder.

"No I don't. I want my own bed, and not have to see this…" Waves her hand in front of Kate's face, with a forged look of disgust "In the morning"

"Thanks" Kate's sarcasm was barely needed as the expression on her face was nearly enough.

"Well, just message me when you get home"

"Of course" and the two give a kiss to the others cheek before parting ways.

Once downstairs and out front, unlocking her car, Maggie looks back up to her sisters window to find her standing there watching over her.

She waves but sees a flicker of movement from another window. The apartment that homed the 'gentleman', as her sister described, movement of a shadow stepping back from the window.

Looking back to her sister she nods over to the window, uses her index and middle finger to point from her eyes up towards her sister. But Kate was waving her off.

"Did you bring egg rolls?" Billy rummages through the left over Chinese food she had promised to bring.

"There should be" Maggie's nose is too busy looking down the stairs of the basement, "Any news?"

"Well I'm alive, so he hasn't woke up. I'm sure I heard him grumbling earlier." Her hungry friend pulls out a chair and sets to ravishing his meal, as though he hasn't eaten for weeks.

"Yeah, he seems to do that now and again. Any seizures?" Maggie makes herself at home and collects two cans of soda from the fridge, one for her and the other of course for Billy.

"Not since the one this morning" Billy splutters pushing an egg rolls all in one into his mouth.

"Good" Maggie left him to his meal and descended the hollow backed staircase, to see her guest in the same position as when she left him.

Originally the plan had been that Billy would allow him to stay here twenty-four hours - of course that had passed after the two of them couldn't come up with a plan of what to actually do with him once they left the house. They both figured that while he was unconscious he posed no danger, and now with them knowing who he was and coming to understand some of what had happened to him they both realized that there was a human man in there somewhere, and neither of them were willing to dump him in a lake. Nor leave him on the street to wake up, when they knew nothing of his mental status.

Despite the danger, Maggie moved around him much more confidently now, she wasn't ready to run each time she was close in case he moved or woke. If anything she was finding herself becoming increasingly fascinated and disturbed by what might have happened to him. She believed Billy was guilty of the same thing.

She shouldn't be too surprised by his speedy recovery and the way his arm was almost as good as new. A bit of bruising remained, but the cuts to the skin were heeling nicely. He was taking well to the drip, if anything his body was absorbing the water like a sponge, but he was a big guy.

"So, you know… when you wake up, I'd be extremely grateful if you didn't try or succeed in killing us" She speaks to the limp form, to fill the silence, watching his buff chest raise up and down with life.

"Or kill anyone for that matter" She produced a popping sound as she blows out her cheeks.

"Well, if you feel killing someone is necessary, I have a cheating ex who I wouldn't miss." She babbles as she gives his upper body a wash down. Being a nurse she had given worse a wash down that was sure - Even a bed bath; which she hadn't progressed to, nor would she. She didn't feel that confident.

Maybe she was behaving selfishly, she did take into consideration his grumbles and they seemed to be when someone was close by, or she was examining him. So maybe part of his conscience was awake, and he could feel her care for him and maybe he wouldn't attempt to rip her heart out. Probably not, but nothing could harm, surely?

That's when she remembered the playlist she had downloaded this morning on the way over, best songs of the 40's, she guessed he would know some of them. Again, what harm could it do?

The playlist kicked off with some Vera Lynn, while she moved to stand by his head and gently gathering his long locks, swaying thoughtlessly, placing the bowl behind his head and giving his hair a layer of soap. With how much it took to lather up she came to conclusion he wasn't familiar with shampoo.

She avoids going near the nape of his neck, as it seems whenever there is too much pressure to that area it triggers his seizures, and she didn't have the strength.

"I've always said I'd love to see what it must have been lived in the 30's and 40's. The music, the fun, the dancing. I used to be obsessed with Rita Hayworth, for me she made me proud to be a red head" Humming in amusements as she recalls pieces of her childhood, yawning slightly as the night grew on, the time closing in on midnight.

It takes her a bit of time to clean the suds from his hair, with the position and lack of running water, but she accomplishes the chore, and dries it off with a towel.

Cleaning up after herself, she heads up the stairs to pour away the water, only to find Billy horizontal on the sofa, mouth wide open, crumbs of his dinner in his beard and a light snort flaring his nostrils.

Turning off the main ceiling light, she makes us of a lamp, offering a softer glow, enough for her to be able to read. Settling down upon an armchair with one of the books she had taken from her sister earlier in the night. The first titled 'The real villains behind WW2", she hoped it might mention something of Hydra or the Red Skull. The front content page wasn't offering any direction, so she begins scanning the pages for anything along the lines of what she was looking for.

Kate, always being the one with time and patience would have been perfect for the job, but unfortunately she wasn't here and slowly but surely the lines of text within the book all began to merge to one, re-reading the same line over and over again until sleep consumes her.

***T*C***

'_Night and Day, _

_You are the one,_

_Only you beneath the Moon and the Sun…_'

At first he thought there was someone by him, talking. But what they were saying wasn't making any sense, as though he was under water. But he deciphered instruments and a melody and with his awakening consciousness there was someone singing.

'_Whether near to me or far_

_No matter, darling, where you are_

_I think of you_

_Night and day'_

He knew those words, knew that voice.

His eyes begin to tug the heavy weight of the lids, a dizziness feeling as he attempted to open them. He could see his blurred lashes, illuminated by a light. His eyes were only open millimetres, but the light was blinding. Instinct kicks in and begins to raise his arm, but is met with something binding the metal down. Craning his head to look down, he is met with the sight of himself bare from the waist up, around one wrist a leather strap and the other an itchy fabric holding his arm bent across his naked chest.

Immediately he begins to struggle, the contraption under him rocking with the weight. Blinding his eyes to the light, he pulls at the straps. Initially he thought he had been captured, that they'd taken him again, but on the third pull, the strap came free, leaving his robotic arm in working order.

Eyes scanning the room manically, he whips the brace and needle from his arm, looking to them in disgust, before recognizing he had no feeling in his arm, it was numb.

With a good kick of his feet, his ankles were free. It could not be his masters, their restraints were too weak and while the room did not seem familiar, the things in it were. Machines, bright lights, brick walls.

As he uses the muscles in his back and works his hips to swing his legs off the bed; he becomes aware of some feeling in his arm, an aching as though it had set or been lying on it.

He searched for anything that resembled an explanation, around the room and in his mind. Everything was just too vague, he remembered fighting. A car. Then pain, so much pain, with someone standing over him. Slowly he began to recall voices, and not musical ones.

For now he followed the music off the bed, his limbs stirring with each step they took. Reaching out his hand he grabs the small white rectangular equipment, which stopped playing music as it become disconnected from whatever it was plugged into.

Again his eyes were around the room, he was disorientated but he knew he was alone.

Dropping the white musically machine he raises his hand to his head, a hint of dampness soaking into his fingertips.

_Where am I? What have they done to me?_

Usually whenever he woke up someone is always there, ready and waiting with his next mission. He would be cold and hungry, and while he might have felt hunger, there was warmth lingering on his unusually cleansed flesh.

He wandered around the room several times, learning his surrounds, but there wasn't all that much to see. Nothing of interest, nothing but the staircase that leads up to a dark open doorway.

No this wasn't right, he became alert that this might be a trap. That whoever was trying to keep him here was waiting for him. But fear failed to take claim of his heart; instead he accepted it as invitation. If there was to be away out of here it must be up those steps.

Up the stairs, he becomes more confused, what kind of laboratory was this? It resembled a kitchen, there were boxes with a stench of food left upon the table, empty drinks cans among it all. It was small and had a fustiness clinging to each surface. His eyes begin to rotate around the ceiling, searching for any sign of hidden camera or alarm, but he could see was peeling wallpaper.

To his right lay a window, neither bars nor shutters obscured its view. Sat upon the counter by the sink was a long glass half full with clear liquid, on inspection Bucky's sense of smell picked up on the non-descript smell of water, but from the light of the moon he saw a faded arch of the faintest of pink. A woman had drunk from the glass. Returning it back to its exact place marked by its water ring, Bucky turns around.

Everything was deadly silent, and everything was dark apart from a glow from in the next room.

Following the light to the doorway, Bucky halts inside it by the appearance of two figures - His captors.

He moves forward ready to take his revenge, to fight. But no movement was made; his eyes fall upon the man. Fat and bold, arm hanging off the edge of his bed. He clenches his fist ready to attack while his metal glove pokes at the figure.

Immediate Bucky's back straightens as the figure slaps his chops. He is prepared for anything, anything but the figure remaining closed eyed and simply rolling onto his side.

His eyes traveled to the next, the subtle glimmering from the light making it easy for him to realize it was a woman. She was much smaller than the man but she too seemed to be sleeping. What kind of guards were these? And what kind of set up was this supposed to be?

He grew closer to the female, the light adding clarity to her features, features that had him feeling acquainted. She had polluted his dreams, he had seen her cry.

This had to be a dream; he could not grasp a hold of any reality, nor come to terms with the logic of this being real.

Suddenly behind him came a load wave of noise, which sent his defence into overdrive and without any contemplation Bucky had the man up off the sofa, driving him up against the wall, his metal hand caging around his throat, tight.

Defending himself was necessity, but there was only one word running through his clouded mind…

Kill.

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Okay so he is awake...

So I should probably mention now that this isn't a story where they will be in love, getting married and having babies by chapter 10. It will be slower in pace as I want to write as realistic and true to myself. I'm also hoping that while the romance is the back drop of the story, other things will be going on.

The relationship between Maggie and Bucky will be back and forth, as neither of them are looking for Romance, their heads are all over the place. So please stick with the story... it will get there... I hope :P

Anyway, hope you enjoyed and please leave a review. I absolutely love them, and it does give me a boost in confidence to write more and getting them to you quicker.

So I'm going to be in the basement, waiting for Bucky to come back to me.

Ciao,  
Danielle  
xx

**REVIEW**

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	4. Chapter 4 - Winter Takes Your Breath

**Chapter Four has arrived and he is awake!** **Cue Bipolar Maggie! **

**So thanks for the reviews, they seem to be positive which is definitely an encouragement, but I'm an insecure freak and worry if I don't have anything to worry about. Just aiming to please, and of course everyone wants to know something they have created is being appreciated so please keep up the Reviews. I will beg, yes I'm that desperate ;)**

**Oh and I made a new cover.!I used Jane Levy, my mind now just automatically pictures her over Emma Stone now. No idea why, my mind will always be a mystery.**

**Enjoy my lovelies**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing. (Literally :P)**

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Previously:

_Suddenly behind him came a load wave of noise, which sent his defence into overdrive and without any contemplation Bucky had the man up off the sofa, driving him up against the wall, his metal hand caging around his throat, tight._

_Defending himself was necessity, but there was only one word running through his clouded mind…_

_Kill._

CHAPTER IV

Maggie is plummeted back down to death from her slumber, by an almighty clatter. Fatigue and darkness laying claim to her sight for only seconds longer until her vision enhances and fixes upon the dreaded sight before her. Two men, one struggling and eyes full of trepidation, while the others were hidden from her, just a back with a sliver of moonlight case down the spine, casting a looming shadow over his victim.

"No, please!" Maggie cries, her heart leaping with her feet, a hint of cramp in her calf and speckles of fear keeping her stood erect only her soles glued themselves into the carpet where they landed.

"What do you want?" His voice is violent and husky as he raises Billy higher against the wall, an act of threat and demanding quick and truthful answers before his captors lungs began ran out of air.

"Nothing! Please, you need to let him go. We pose no threat, I swear!" She speaks so fast that it all sounds like unpunctuated gibberish, and to Bucky her word meant nothing but a desperate attempt to save her partner in crime. "We're trying to help. I ran you over, by accident and couldn't take you to hospital when I realized who you were."

Maggie's eyes wide with deadly fear, watched as her friend turned from red to plum, his eyes glazing over, her heart screamed at her to do something, to save him, to do anything – anything at all. But her brain refused to give her the power or force needed to tackle anyone, never mind a man of his size and strength. She had nothing but her voice, and within it she poured her heart and soul.

"James Please!" Her screams vibrated off each wall and rang in all of their ears, a brief whistle of air, gushing in through the window, carrying her voice to new depths. Any remaining air lodges in her oesophagus as his head swivels around. His pupils dominate his iris as they targeting in on her.

"How do you know me?!"

She finally manages to release the magnetize hold her feet had on the ground, she spoke soft but still with an ample amount of urgency. She had to try and reason with him one last time.

"Let him go and I'll explain everything. Please, you're killing him!"

Kill. Kill Them. Kill Him. Killing. Killer. Killing Him.

The voices of his past penetrate his mind, bouncing from one ear to the other each taking on a different voice. Each with a different call of demand or cry of help. Good versus evil shouting through his tarnished mind. He'd felt it before, he'd heard them before. His mission, his returning voice of humanity. Steve.

Steve!

Bucky's humanity sets the glove of steel mentally ablaze, tearing it back from his victim, the wave of realization almost throwing him from his feet, as a crash and thud of the choking man, drawing him in with a feeling of horror. For a moment not caring if they pose a threat. He couldn't kill him, no if he wasn't sure, not as long as an ounce of doubt in his mind remained.

Watching the sight before him of a helpless man, gasped to fill his suffocated lungs.

"How do you know me?" Bucky repeats his previous question, while the girl throws himself past him and to her knees by the side of her accomplice, encouraging him to breath, deaf to Bucky's question.

"How do you know me?!" This time he made sure she heard him loud and clear, and would not defy his demands.

"I don't!" Maggie, turns her brutal eyes, ready to face the vile… being that had been so set upon hurting and killing her friend. But she isn't faced with him, instead his eye mirror the fear she had seem with Billy's just moment ago - A lost, desperate expression.

With her inability to grasp onto all of her hanger, and the relief her friend was breathing added a twinge of softness to her voice. A twinge.

"We don't know you… not personally. I was just trying to get to the hospital where I work and you stepped out and I couldn't stop in time." Maggie swallows back the rush and mad mixture of emotions, and looks back to Billy, who places a hand upon her wrist, silently giving her reassurance and nodding in encouragement; she raises her hand to pat his hairy cheek.

"You're the nurse." Bucky realizes, remembering the blur of red hair above him while the lay subject to the excruciating pain. "What did you do to me?"

Maggie felt him right behind her, seeing it as a threat she spins around and to her feet, acting as a guard to a recuperating Billy. But it was only then with him standing over her that she witnessed his true enormity. She hadn't really had the chance to be in his company where he is vertical.

"Nothing, I tried to help. You were having a seizure." She stares at his chest that happened to be at her eyelevel, "I saw your arm. I promise you, we have just been trying to help. The only people who are in danger here are us!"

There is a sudden clawing and pulling noise against carpet on the stares, and every of the steel plate retracted into place in order to once again face any threat.

"Cat!" Seeing the lurch within the man's stance and to deter him from another violent outbreak she holds up her hands "It's just the cat"

"Cat?"

"Yes, an animal. A cat, a pet. A pet is…"

Bucky snaps, "I know what a pet is. So it's just us and the… cat" eyes doing another lap of the room, and the stairs.

"Yes… uh… no actually. Before you go all terminator again, Billy's sick elderly mother is asleep upstairs. It's a small house you can check. But please let me sit Billy down and check him over"

"Billy?" Bucky questions, and from behind Maggie, Billy raises his hand.

"I'm Billy." Voice still suffering, it remains saw, but not saw enough for introductions.

With a nod, Bucky gives Maggie the permission to lead Billy over to the sofa and allows him to sit down, quickly turning on a more efficient light than the small lamp.

"Why did you strap me down?"

Bucky isn't going to feel secure about any of this, but he had to understand their reason for doing what they had to him if they adamantly claimed to be nothing more than helpful citizens.

Maggie, whispers an apologize to Billy as he winces when she touches his neck, before addressing his questions, "You kept having fits, and let's face it you aren't the most steadfast house guest to have. But it seems either way the straps were useless"

"They were pathetic"

Maggie angles her head to look at him as he just stood there on ceremony, making his blunt observation, "Well I don't see how you should be the one complaining", she holds his eyes, determined to have him look away first. He wasn't the only one who could make someone feel uncomfortable.

She came to the conclusion Billy would be fine, he would have some bruising but I'm sure he wouldn't mind being as they were caused by Bucky, and over the past couple of days with his research, Billy had become a super fan. What a fool.

"I'll just get you a glass of water." Maggie stands up straight from where she had been crouched on her knees, her eyes remained glued to the unstable guest, a slight narrowing of her lids.

Bucky stared at the girl in confusion, she says she poses no threat and he didn't feel anything. He was just found her attempts to make him uncomfortable quite remarkable for a woman as small as she. He watched her pass into the other room and takes in her fragile frame and how it would be so ease to break. He didn't plan on it; he just wondered where she got her courage from.

"So Bucky, you don't mind me calling you Bucky do you?" Bucky's almost robotic eyes, switch their focus to the man. He wasn't sure how to reply or why he would even address him, never mind with politeness laced into his hoarse crock.

"Well, never mind, just make feel free to make yourself comfortable. You're safe here, Buddy. Unless you want to go back downstairs?"

"No!"

Billy wasn't at all surprised, "Yeah it's a bit gloomy down there. Maggie told me I need to decorate. Girls and their peculiar need to have everything surrounding them pretty. Although…" Billy leans toward the figure still attempting to lurk in the shadows, "I don't think she has noticed all too much of anything else other than you while she's been down there."

Bucky doesn't quite understand to what he is suggesting, he isn't making much of an effort to do. He's actually contemplating why he hadn't left yet. And it would seem to be incredibly easy, as the door was mere feet away from him and he was always suspicious of something that looked easy.

The red head, who he was gathering was Maggie, returned to the room with a glass of water in one hand and a piece of fabric in the other.

"Are you in pain?" Bucky is surprised to see she is addressing me.

"N-o?" Unsure of how he is to respond.

"What a shame. By the way the brace on your arm, you're supposed to keep it on until all the broken bones have healed."

He looks down to his arm, stretching and bending it at the elbow, recalled the pain and the immobility of the limb from his fight with his missi… with Steve.

"You… fixed my arm. What serum did you use?"

She looks at him with a turned up lip and frown, "None. Do you want to stop trying to trip me up on everything I say?"

"Do you want to let me go?" He bites back.

He is being made to catch the fabric she was throwing at him, he didn't need to inspect the material to know it was an item of clothing. Her stance is rigid with her arms folded across her chest, for a moment luring his eyes into the enhanced area of her chest, and he regretted it immediately, turning his head away and using his hair to shield his eyes.

"I'm sorry" He murmurs, causing the friends to look to each other in puzzlement.

"Am I required to stay here?" His eyes have found a small painting upon the wall of a poppy field, enough to encourage himself away from anything of a particular nature.

Billy nudges Maggie. Until now she had felt defensive, a disliking for the man who had almost killed her friend, but as she looked at his now… there was something childlike about him. A helpless puppy with nowhere to go. She might have felt these things but she wasn't about to say them, for all she knew it was just an act so he could murder them in their sleep.

"Do you have somewhere else to go?" Billy chimes in, doing the talking being as this was his house, and Maggie knew he was okay with him staying here while he was unconscious, but it was a whole other story now.

"I'd find somewhere" Bucky displayed confidence, despite his own internal unlikelihood.

"In other words, you'll go back to the monsters who created all this mess?"

"No!" Buck's voice is firm and convincing.

"But there is a chance they'll be looking for you, and then what? If you get captured, they do to you what they did before… everyone is in danger again and who is to know if next time whatever superhero wants to take the glory will succeed? Because from what I heard it was a pretty close call."

For Bucky there was no doubt there was some truth to what the girl says, they could be looking for him now, and not only his Masters, but S.H.I.E.L.D. too. He could try and blend into society but with Bucky's lack of knowledge on much of the modern day, and the inability to keep his arm hidden permanently he once again felt this haze of not knowing.

"You could stay here" The bearded man offers him his home, only to confuse Bucky further. After what happened before, how could he be so enthusiastic in opening his home to him? To trust him, knowing all that they seem to know? Bucky could not comprehend such act; he assumed they would be a catch.

"Downstairs?" Bucky didn't like the idea of being trapped away in the basement, but he wasn't too sure he would find much comfort outside either.

"Nah, dude. You can have the sofa; we can take it in turns with the bed upstairs"

"Billy…" Maggie turns her back to Bucky in order to looks at Billy in disbelief who lounges upon the sofa like he had just gotten back from a stress free night on the tiles. His more than comfortable standpoint involving the whole arrangement seemed delusional to Maggie, "I can't be here all the time. I have to work and can't leave you here on your own in case…"

"I won't hurt him" Bucky steps forward, Maggie's whispers having been a waste of energy because he had overheard.

"I'm sorry James but I'm sure you can understand why I'm too eager to jump on board with this plan, nor trust the word of a man who would have killed him five minutes ago"

"Perhaps. But all I have to offer you is my word. You helped me; I owe you, both of you. And I'm… before, I'm… sorry" Long strands of chestnut fall into his face, as he bows his head in accordance with his promise.

Billy, already satisfied with the apology, producing a smile, and stood to offer the man his hand causing Bucky to take a few moments to comprehend the gesture. So he copies the man, and from there Billy leads the handshake, "Wow" Billy is in amazement by his grip.

"You're nuts!" No need to explain whose thoughts they belonged to.

After Billy lets him go, Bucky slowly extends out his hand once again, this time to the resistant red head that looked upon him with pure dislike, but was still offering him more than anyone had in a long time. For that he would be indebted to them, and obliged to keep his word.

Maggie watches the hand that was outstretched and awaiting her approval from under her lashes, never one eager to trust people.

The salt and pepper carpet wears under her feet, turning away from the hand and tapping at her temples hoping it would miraculously make this whole situation disappear. However all it produced was a growing headache while she searched for logic.

The truth, she didn't want him here, she didn't want him anywhere near Billy or his ill mother. But she brought him here; Billy had been her backbone with the whole crisis. She looked to him as a voice of reason. He was a smart man - Albeit up until recently. Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen to the brain.

She could argue, and there was nothing wrong with her lungs, she could go all night, but this was not her home and she had no say on who Billy opened his door too.

Her next train of thought was just to walk out of the door, leave them to make their mistakes, but how could she just turn her back on her friend who had given so much of his time, past and present, and never given up on her? The look in Billy's eyes belonged to a child on Christmas morning, and as she glanced to him it was as though he was begging her not to take away his new toy.

How could she possibly be contemplating agreeing to such madness? And why did she have to be such a fool to Billy looking happy?

Well happy or not, she was not giving in lightly. Her stubbornness may have been wavered by her stupidity, and as she closed in on the giant of a man, no enormity could sway her determination or lack of fear for what he represented, an inner fearless vixen claiming her eyes and his own.

"Maggie" There came a warning tone from behind her, one she did not need.

"To you I might just be a little woman in a big world…" She begins, voice slow so he grasped every syllable, "Fragile and leaving you fearless with what I have to say, but I promise you now, my life as _my_ word, you hurt him, or anyone for that matter, and that fearless you feel right now, will be that one downfall I'll need to find you… and tear you to shreds" A pause radiated silence, about three long seconds of it, all before she blinks, innocent glowing in ripples within her orbs,

"I hope we understand each other?" A bittersweet smile controls of her cheeks.

Bucky did not fear her, but he believed she believed what she said to be true, and for him the courage she shows in her attempts deserve a rightful response.

"Perfectly" His voice taking on the same compressed tone in which she had dressed her threats with.

Taking his hand that still awaited her confirmation, it was almost lost within his loose clutch and recognized her softness and warmth as a comfort - Without blemish and a touch of pure beauty.

Bucky should have known there and then that such thing of beauty should never be underestimated.

The three of them stood there in silence quite a while, none of them knowing what they were supposed to do from there.

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**I will say it again, despite how it may look this chapter, I have no plan to rush. Lets not forget its Bucky's first real communication with a women he isn't supposed to kill.**

So my eyes are being kept open with matches, so going to be short and sweet.

**Oh... again about the reviews... I need to know people! And if you feel generous and leave me a few words I might just feel the need to give you the next chapter uber quick! (Yep, bribery. I went there. Sue me!) Your choice ;) *Whistles and points down* **

**Toodles**  
**Danielle xx**


	5. Chapter 5 - Come Bearing Gifts

**Helloooo!**

**So the bribery thing didn't really work out. Yeah I guess I'm a little disappointed but I won't let it dishearten me. I love the future I have planned for this story I have to tell and I shall continue to share it, just seeing it as an advantage if you wanna let me know what you think :)**

**If you have any questions or your own thoughts as to where the story is heading please share.**

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**Disclaimer:  
Everything owned by Marvel.**

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CHAPTER V

_Another Two Days Later_

After the decision that Bucky would be staying with Billy was made, Billy seemed to take a liking to being in control and was leaving Maggie with barely any other option but to follow through with his demands. Firstly he had decided it would be wise for us to carry on with our lives as though nothing had happened, and considering Maggie had been absent from work for a few days he thought there was no time like the present to test Bucky's promise. Of course Maggie being Maggie didn't make it too straight forward, but he got what he wanted eventually.

She went back to work, the day before it had been a short eight hour shift, while today was a little longer with twelve hours being spent caring for normal human beings. A good sleep was still needed but sleep was the last thing on her mind. To be honest her mind was so swamped with one thing or another that it wouldn't allow her to rest.

While back at the house, despite Bucky's lack of many communication skills, Billy was really enjoying just having another guy around the place, with his reclusive social skills they seemed to be getting along rather well.

True to his nature though Bucky didn't do too well at learning to relax, he spent more of the time in the armchair by the window with the curtains closed, peaking out whenever he heard a noise.

Billy had taught the art of the remote control for the TV, and he would switch from one screen to another, taking in the wide variety of people, animals and other creatures that were on show to him. Apparently it was entertainment but he found it as mind-numbing as Cry-o.

"You okay buddy? You hungry?" Billy pops his head into the room to check on his new best friend, he is simply met with a dismissive wave of the hand.

Across town it was rush hour, Maggie had finished work, called off at the local superstore to gather a few supplies and then some food, and why by the time she had finished the wave of traffic was dissipating, making it a more leisurely drive to Billy's. At the traffic lights she picks up her take-out coffee from the cup holders and then returning it, realizing it was the empty one, before claiming the fresh cup.

Checking her fog watch in a natural movement she realizes she hadn't even changed, but wasn't too much of a worry being as she had a change of clothes in the trunk.

With the sound of movement right outside the house, Bucky parted the curtain just enough to see the cause, and on seeing Maggie climbing out the car he instinctively rose to his feet, parting the curtains that little bit wider.

He couldn't help but notice she looked differently today. Watching her she disappears behind the car, and he wondered what she was doing until moments later he saw her coming towards the house, one bag thrown over her shoulder with all the others crammed in her arms, and trying to balance cups.

He moves quickly to the door in an attempt to help, but stops realizing he couldn't leave the house. Well he could but anyone could be watching. So inside he reaches out to the handle and opens the door, standing behind it out of sight.

"Thank Bill… Oh…" Maggie is surprised to be greeted by Bucky, but is as equally as grateful.

"May I help?" He closes the door as soon as she is through it, and is ready with awaiting hands.

"Uh, you can take the drinks" and she needed to not say anything else, he took them straight from her, "You can just put them on the coffee table" She nods to encourage him while making her way there too to place down the burden of the bags.

"Thanks" she offers him a small smile.

It was only a small effort but to him it was quite remarkable, he hadn't seen a smile on her face before. And while it was only fleeting, he felt that she should smile a little more often as it seemed to brighten the green of her eyes. However Bucky found himself frowning for even noticing.

"Billy, I'm here. I got KFC" She leaves the room to enter the kitchen where she collects three plates forgetting the cutlery as it wouldn't get used anyway.

Returning to the living room Bucky was still standing where she left him, "Here" she hands him a plate, before putting the other two down, and bending down to open the bucket of chicken.

"Leg, thigh or breast man?"

"Pardon?" He almost chokes on fresh air.

"Chicken. I'm talking about chicken. Just… help yourself. There is a cappuccino for you too."

"Cappu…?" He struggles to pronounce the word.

"A cappuccino, it's like a coffee." She sighs heavily, taking the top off the cup and taking a sip. "Poison free" She speaks once she has swallowed the rich hot beverage.

Nodding, feeling satisfied he takes the coffee and has a sip, a hum vibrating in his chest, and for a moment he is embarrassed.

"See, good isn't it?"

"Oh Maggie have I told you I love you recently?" Billy declares his gratitude for having the young red head around the place. To be honest, having spent so long with it just being him, his mute mother and a nurse to care for his mother passing through now and again - he had forgotten what it was like to feel a part of something, and to just be around people he can be comfortable with.

"Not until then" She chuckles and picks up her tote bag. "You two eat, I'm going to run and get changed."

The two boys were left to fend for themselves and Bucky finally sat down, back in his arm chair.

"She likes to look after people" Bucky makes the observation, and voices it for a change.

Billy picked the skin from the chicken, "Oh yeah. She's a godsend. Will make a guy one hell of a lucky husband one day" he speaks before tucking into his dinner, while Bucky just stares at him.

"So you plan on marrying her one day?"

Billy's moment of choking startles Bucky, but the bearded man seems to recuperate rather quickly, for a laugh to take its place.

"Me? Me Marry Mags?" Billy looks over in bewilderment, "No buddy, guys like me and girls like Maggie, well we don't match"

The explanation doesn't help Bucky at all, "But you said you loved her?"

"Oh I do" Billy pauses to suck the flavouring from his fingers and wipe his bead, the time it takes to do so and the particular answer causing ridges to display themselves upon Bucky's forehead, "But I love her in a friendly way. Like how you would love a member of your family. Being in love with a girl is a completely different thing. She's a beautiful girl but I'm not attracted to her sexually, and I know for certain she never could be for me."

"Why?" For the first time Bucky felt the urge to question and persist.

"Thanks dude, for playing the oblivious card but girls like Maggie, they belong with guys… more like you."

"But…" Bucky seals his mouth as footsteps announce Maggie's return, and his eyes move to find her. Seeing her coming down the stairs in a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt and her hair hanging down by her shoulders, unlike before when it was tied back. Even he noticed that now she looked more like herself. Her hair was much lovelier when it encased her face.

"Bill, just checked on your mom. She's sound asleep." She weaves around the sofa and takes a seat, "Hope you saved me a breast. Do you not like it James?" Glancing over to the long haired man, she notes there was no sign he had eaten anything.

"I thought it be polite to wait for you" While it was partly true, he thought it wouldn't be a wise idea to declare he hadn't eaten because he had been too busy prying into her love life.

"Thanks, well I'm here now. Don't want it getting cold"

It seems they were all hungry, but none as much as Bucky, who even surprised Billy with the amount he could consume, and how he left every bone without a scrap of meat left upon it. Apparently he thought it was 'The best food he'd had since before he could remember'.

Billy and Maggie were just left to watch him while he polished off everything, including a piece from Maggie's plate which she had left, having no remaining room within her stomach.

He then completes his meal with an encore of a belch; it surprised Bucky more than it did anyone else, he even tried to cover it up with a delayed cough. And muttered a pardon, as he seemed to have full memory of manners.

"Oh looks like you enjoyed that." Maggie sets up clearing up the plates, but Billy seeing the hint of dark rings around Maggie's eyes decided to jump in and take over, having released that he hadn't seen her relax any time in the last five days.

"I did, thank you. What was it called again?" He wanted to store it to memory.

"KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken." Maggie wipes her hands on a napkin, before offering him one.

"Kentucky like the state?" taking it and giving a nod of gratitude, and Maggie can't help watch how he uses the bionic arm.

"Exactly that." She watched how the plates seemed to move effortlessly, his fingers wired so they reacted like any fingers usually would, only they were covered in mental and weren't real.

"What does it feel like?" She goes against her judgement and asks, "The arm, I mean I would praise whoever made it if I didn't know they were sick individuals, but they seemed to know what they were doing. I've never seen anything like it. "

"I think that was the point when they were making it." Bucky's answers leaving Maggie feeling a tab bit on the stupid side. "As for how it feels…" He continues but begins pulling down his sleeve as though insecure. "It feels like I've had my arm cut off and it's been replaced with a big chunk of metal."

Well that seemed to be the end of that conversation, that was for sure, and giving in with the small talk, Maggie sits back on the sofa only to feel an obstruction and a crunching behind her.

Reaching around she takes ahold of the bag, "Oh I almost forgot, I picked you a couple of things up. I thought you might want some of your own clothes rather borrowing off Billy all the time." She just places the bag before him so he could look through it at his own will.

"It's not much, just a few plain T-shirts, and some pants. Some razors in case you wanted to shave, a toothbrush. Things like that" She takes a swig from her paper cup, she had also brought him some underwear but she felt he would eventually see them in the bag for himself.

"If the sizes are wrong just let me know and I can take them…"

"I'm sure they'll be just fine." He interrupts her, still feeling slightly surprised that she had thought of these things when he hadn't even given them a moment thought, "I don't have any money to repay you at the moment"

"Oh its fine" Waves her hand dismissively, not feeling he had anything to repay her for. She hadn't done it out of guilt but even though he was who he was, she had still run him over.

"You're very thoughtful. Thank you, Maggie"

And for the first time he spoke her name and a small smile was shared between the two.

"You're welcome, James" In that moment, for the first time Bucky actually felt like a human being, and the two came to some form of silent understanding. Maybe Maggie wasn't willing to put her life in his hands and trust him, nor could she forgive what he had been created to do, but right there and then maybe the 'Winter Soldier' was a part of him, but he was also just a man.

She insisted on calling him James, and to Bucky, he didn't seem to mind. After all he didn't know himself what he wanted to be called. Everyone else had called him 'Bucky', Bucky the nickname of the man in the past, someone he is expected to be and live up to. As for now, and from her, he didn't mind just being James.

***T*C***

"So the nurse is coming out of Ma's bedroom, just as Bucky is leaving the bathroom and Bang!"

Billy was retelling the story of earlier in the day when Bucky had been showering and not known Roberta's nurse was here and they had had an awkward meeting on the landing. Even now hearing the story again after having to relive it Bucky felt a heated feeling spread from his arm to his neck.

"You weren't in a towel!" Exclaims Maggie, doing a terrible job of hiding her amusement. However there was a growing feeling of worry that someone had seen him.

"There wasn't a big enough towel and Billy said that he had left me some clothes outside of the bathroom. I was just collecting them. I did not expect…"

"Hark at you… not a big enough towel" Maggie scoffs, "I think both of you weren't expecting it. Poor girl!"

"Poor girl?" Billy speaks up after Maggie, "You should have seen her face when she came downstairs. Grin from ear to ear, like all her Christmases had come at once."

Really? That impressive. Maggie found herself thinking, before mentally giving herself a slap.

"But I did have my arm covered. That was the important thing" Bucky decides to steer the conversation onto a more serious note, and Maggie seems to follow suit.

"Well… yes of course. But it just shows how easy it's going to be with people seeing you. Nurses are going to be coming here daily. It only has to take one glimpse and they might somehow recognize you" Maggie does find herself wondering why there had to be a sore note for every tale.

"Well I can have a word with them, tell them to call beforehand and knock before they come in. I never did like that they just invite themselves in" Billy voices his thoughts and ideas.

"It's still too risky" The idea that one day a nurse would turn up and it wouldn't be one, ran through her mind, leaving a shiver down her spine.

She was finishing off her now, stone cold coffee when the idea came to her. "I could do it," she announces, leaving both men with expressions of confusion. "I'm going to be here a lot of the time anyway. I can work around my schedule, call in in the morning, do what needs to be done. You always go and sit with her at Lunch time anyway, so you feed her as you usually do. And then I do dinner time and get her ready for bed when I come around."

"No Maggie. You're already rushed off your feet…"

Maggie produced a noise that resembles 'Ppppft'.

Bucky sits back in the armchair watching the two have their discussion, while wondering why the woman needed such help, as he hadn't ventured into asking or really given it much thought.

"You are always complaining about the nurses, they aren't looking after her properly. They distress her. I know Alzheimer's, I know Roberta. And maybe most of the time she doesn't know me but somewhere deep down she does and maybe somehow that can give her comfort. It wouldn't be much more than I'm doing now. Please Billy." She reaches out and takes his hands, she is silently asking him to trust her and trust her judgement on whether she can manage. "I can do this"

While Billy doesn't think the strain is good on her, at the same time he can't deny that she has a way with words and when taking all the factors into account there are more pro's that con's, but he isn't just about to let her drive herself to exhaustion.

"Fine… but… when you have a long shift I can feed her at dinner time, or get her up in the morning, depending on how the your shifts work out or both if needed. That way you don't have to rush here after or before and can actually get some sleep" Billy isn't negotiating. He's telling her.

She rolls her eyes and goes through her bag for her diary, opening it up.

"Okay, that's fine. I have a 16 hour shift on Sunday and off on Monday. Midday till 6. So you'll have to do dinner and bed and I can be here to get her up"

"No that isn't keeping to the negotiation" Bucky speaks up, beating Billy to the point.

"Excuse me?" She looks on over to him, with an eyebrow arched upon her forehead.

"Maggie he's right. That's complete the opposite of what I just said. I will do dinner and morning and after work you go home and sleep."

"Well well, looks like the boys are sticking together doesn't it? Do I have a choice?"

"No" Billy and Bucky both barely giving her the chance to finish speaking.

She looks with narrowed eyes between the both of them and then relents.

"Fine. So I'll be needing a key, my shift starts at 6 in the morning. I know it will be early to get her up, she can watch the sun rise. She always used to like that" Maggie smiles, feeling her plan is final, closing her diary.

"No" interject Billy once again, and Maggie couldn't understand what he was protesting at now. "Yes she likes it. But with you needing to start so early, you can stop here tonight."

Maggie does consider the option, "No I'll be okay. I don't fancy the night on the sofa. I'll be fi-"

This interrupting and demanding malarkey was beginning to grate on her last nerve, "You can take the bed" Bucky seemed to come to a solution.

"I mean, I'm supposed to have the bed tonight but I don't mind if you sleep there. And I'll sleep down here, of course" He makes sure to add the last part to save any confusion.

Maggie sits there stares at the clock upon the mantel piece, eyes tightened and tongue in her cheek. "Why am I the one feeling like the prisoner?"

"Nobody is a Prisoner, sweetheart. You're just argumentative and stubborn." Damn, for someone so shy out in the real world, Billy really didn't hold his tongue when it came to those close to him. But somewhere deep down, she felt honoured that he was her friend and they both seemed to be showing signs of caring about her.

Without saying a word Maggie raises from her seat, taking the bag by Bucky's feet she rustles through it until she finds what she is looking for.

"What are you doing?" Billy queries.

"Going to brush my teeth before bed." And up the stairs she goes clutching the toothbrush she had bought for Bucky.

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**There you have Chapter Five, so I'm still working on putting across character personalities and discovering them for myself.**

**Hope you enjoyed**

**Ta-Ta for now,**  
**Danielle xx**


	6. Chapter 6- Remember When I Lost My Mind?

**Hey :D! **

**So its Friday, the weekend is nearly here and the next chapter is here now :)  
**

**Hope you guys enjoy.**

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**Disclaimer:  
I own nothing. All belongs to Marvel accept Maggie, she's mine.**

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**CHAPTER VI**

Maggie had started her morning like most early mornings, disgruntled by the alarm that awoke her. Having to resist hitting the snooze button wasn't as great as she might have imagined. To say she was in a foreign room, and in a foreign bed she couldn't remember anything after her head hit the pillow.

On peeking through the door of Roberta's room she is surprised to see her just lying there awake already. Her mouth sat slightly agape as she just stares to the window. The smell of ammonia was one nobody could mistake. Feeling a weight upon her heart, she pushes those feelings down and let her head do the work.

"Morning, sweetheart. I hope you don't mind, I'm going to look after you okay?" Maggie speaks softly as she brushes the whisper of hair upon Roberta's forehead. "Let's get you ready to watch that sun rise, yeah?"

There was no response and nor was Maggie waiting for one, she just set to work.

First and foremost was the job of getting her cleaned up and the bed stripped. It was usually a two man job and if she was doing this in the hospital she would be breaking all sorts of rules and regulations, but she wasn't at work and she managed just fine.

To help with any distress, she kept on talking all the while.

Roberta complained when it came to getting her in the hoist. It wasn't the most comfortable of things, nor did it look all that new, but sturdy enough to move her over to her armchair without worry.

Once she was settled into her chair, all clean, tucked up with a blanket and the curtains opened Maggie felt comfortable leaving her so that she could finish the bed, and make it all crisp and fresh for her later, before bagging up the dirty linen.

"I'm just going to make you some breakfast, sweetheart. I might even sneak some maple syrup." Maggie gives the old lady a smile, knowing she had seen some syrup in the fridge a couple of days ago. Leaving the window just very slightly open, in order for the room to get some air, but not enough for her to get cold.

Quickly Maggie leaves the room, and works her way as silently as possible down the stairs, remembering the living rooms sleeping occupants.

Bucky hadn't slept again and he had no intention to, instead he had stay in the same position in the armchair all night, lost in his thoughts, trying to tune out the obnoxious snores from Billy.

He'd heard the faint ringing of the alarm and her wandering around upstairs. His eyes had followed the sound of her footsteps and voice across the ceiling, and he found himself wondering what she was doing, how she could be so devoted to helping other people constantly. He was well aware of her disliking for him, but still he crossed her mind. Yesterday when she had brought him the clothes, going out of her way to do so. He remembers his time in the war, and the nurses who gathered in the bar, who laughed and danced and took time for themselves. But he had seen none of that from her. It was as though she would do anything not to have that time for herself.

He recalled what Billy had said the night before once she had gone to bed, that Maggie's way of coping with the world and her own issues was to bury her head and lose herself in everyone else's.

Bucky wondered what it was that she was burying her head from. What kind of demons, a normal girl like her could have. But then when he looked at her, he couldn't help but think she was anything but normal.

He straightens his back, and rids the thoughts from his mind as he hears her coming downstairs, as though she would somehow be able to read his mind.

However he seems to startle her when she rounds the corner into the living room, her hand clasping a big black bag while the other fisted her chest,

"Jeez" She chuckles, "You made me jump."

Shaking off the moments fright, she runs her hair through her disarray of hair, noticing his bed upon the floor was untouched.

"Did I wake you?" She asks slowly moving towards the kitchen, and he shakes his head and he does say something but it is muted over an almighty snore coming from Billy.

"Jesus Christ, no wonder you can't sleep. I've finished in the bedroom if you want to go get your head down" She offers in a small voice before disappearing into the kitchen, taking the bag out to the laundry closet, emptying it and quickly closing the washer door, not wanting to make the smell linger any longer than necessary.

On returning to the kitchen, she is giving her arms a sniff realizing she needed a shower, only to be seen by the Bucky who is standing there by the open fridge door, and he seemed to be scrunching up his nose too.

'Great, he will think the smell is me' her vanity having a moments internal complaint.

"Did you need something? I can make you a drink" She offers knowing he wasn't too accustomed to… anything really.

"I can make myself a drink." His insisted has an impressive confidence as he closed the door and picks up the kettle.

"Well if that's the case, you can make me my morning coffee. Two spoons of coffee for me though, need my caffeine levels high" She informs him as she moves past him, keeping her arms tucked down feeling self-conscious as she begins to make Roberta's Porridge, and while Bucky focuses on his responsibility of making her coffee he still takes a moment to glance over to see what she is doing.

"What is that? Is that… porridge?"

"It is. Milky porridge. Roberta can't chew." She explains for the runny gloopy mosh.

"What is wrong with her" Bucky inquires.

Maggie finds the medicine cupboard and after checking Roberta's chart she begins crushing the tablets into powder form with the back of a spoon, "She has Alzheimer's, it's a form of dementia which affects your brain. As it gets worse you begin to lose mobility throughout your body, loss of speech and understanding. She's lost all her memory too. And before you ask, no I'm not poisoning her; they are vitamin's to keep her nutrients up"

At the time he had seen her crushing the tablet's he had wondered but when she spoke of the illness and at the mention of memory loss he was knitting his own brow, finding himself intrigued due to his own circumstances.

"Who did it to her?" Mid-scoop of coffee, he insists her quite strongly.

With her own brows pinched together she looks up to him, "Nobody. Oh… no it… isn't like you…" She wets her lips with her tongue, feeling that they are incredibly dry. "It's a disease. It's all very vague, not even Doctors know as much as they'd like. It eats away at the brain and the person you are. Nobody knows the cause, you just begin to lose your memory and slowly it takes claim to everything else."

"And how do we stop it?" Bucky feels a strong urge to know, and to find out as much as he can.

"You can't" She whispers, Bucky not needing to see into her eyes to know of the sadness that declares its right upon them.

"Don't say anything to Billy. He holds it together, puts on an act. But nobody can be fine when your own mother wakes up one day and doesn't recognize you, and be frightened by you." Her sentence is punctuated by the ping of the microwave.

Maggie excuses herself to head off back upstairs to feed Roberta, while Bucky is left there to reflect upon the new information about the world today. Here he was thinking he was the only person out there having had their memories taken from them. But in actual fact he was just one of many, and unlike him he was regaining his past, but from what Maggie was telling him, people like Billy's mother had no hope of regaining their memory, and not only that, it left them incapable of doing anything.

Upstairs, Maggie spoke now and again with Roberta, again masking the emotions of the truth, wondering what it must be like. To be in Roberta's or Bucky's position, both causes completely the opposite, but both as equally inconceivable. While she knew more information on Roberta's illness, she knew next to nothing on what Bucky had been though. Yes he had mentioned that they had taken his memory from him, but he didn't divulge anything else, and to that she could in some way come to understand why.

Running behind schedule once she had finished with Roberta, she only got time for a quick shower and to get dress. Towel drying her hair, she scraps it back into a usual bun and heads off downstairs.

She had forgotten that Bucky had made her a coffee, but it was awaiting her and he seemed to judge the milk quite well, and allowing it to sit actually left it just cool enough for her drink and enjoy. And she did enjoy it.

"Well well, that wasn't bad. Not bad at all. Maybe I should hire you just to supply me with coffee." Her joke is made with a musical ring created at the back of her throat.

With the mug empty and in the sink, she fixes her bag upon her shoulder ready to leave, "Oh can you remind Billy to call the community nurse when he wakes up, to tell them we won't need them anymore?" She rummages for her keys, and he nods, storing it in his memory to do as she asks.

"Okay, well… I gotta go." She steps forward and then shimmies around him, giving him a wide birth. In doing so she wrinkles her nose as he had done to her before.

Walking through the living room, and past the still snoring Billy, she feels a draw to look back that she could not ignore, and with her eyes cast behind her, her day starts off with a smile as she sees Bucky's back to her, his arm bent and stretched above his head and his head cranes down in his pit.

***T*C***

With his knowledge on how to work the shower, he was able to start it without any help from anyone else and could clean himself from any dirt or smell.

He felt comfortable this time, knowing a repeat of the day before wouldn't arise. Not that he would let it, as he dried himself off and had his new clothes with him. First of all he stood before the small clearing mirror from the condensation, raising his flesh coated hand to his cheek and the bristles that prickled his palm.

The razors, Maggie had bought him some. And when he looked into the bag there they were. He fiddles with the bag, until he gave it a good yank and it all ripped open, all the razors falling out and caught by the sink basin.

He could remember how to do this, he knew he just needed to be a little less heavy handed. And began by lathering up his face with the bar of soap, spreading it down his chin. Leaning closer into the mirror for a clearer view he raises the shaving tool to his face and pushed it against his skin and swept it down his cheek, watching it gather up the soap and hairs.

Rinsing the razor clean he strokes again, feeling the itchy sensation leaving the strip of skin and working his way down to his jaw line when he felt a twinge of something in the back of his head and neck. He pauses for a moment waiting for it to ease before returning to his shave, he had only just placed the blade back to his face when the twinge returned, only this time it felt a mini explosion within his head that stole all control over his body, his whole back raised off the floor as he lands, blood oozing from a cut on his jaw and growling through gritted teeth as the first attack in days claims him. Clashing waves and terrorized screams came washing down upon him.

***T*C***

He didn't know how long the fit and pain tore through his body, nor unconsciousness. But when he awake the whole world seems to be spinning, and his limbs of jelly attempting to raise himself from the ground. With the aid of the bath he succeeds in pulling himself up into a sitting position, ringing still in his ear.

His head falls forward heavy and ashamed, with flashes of dying eyes on a reel through his mind.

Wrenching himself away from the eyes was only achieved by opening his, a thin line of blood weaving its way like a river through bases of mountains. Anger erupted within him and his arms and leg tearing and ruining everything he could reach, as the silent racket of rage devours him.

Downstairs Billy had woke with a start of smashing and conflict. Following the noise to the top of the stairs he stood before the door, listening to the commotion inside, materialistic things far from his mind. He clasps his hand around the doorknob ready to barge on in and see what was the problem, but as he listened and the noises of violence dissolved, a single whimper of a cry, makes him turn his back. He didn't know much about people, and kept his distance from them, but he knew the pain and cry of a man shouldn't be interrupted.

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***Pouts* So not the greatest of Chapter for Bucky. **

**I know its pretty short, but the new chapter should be along soon. I'm finishing off writing chapter 10 now and they are getting longer as it goes on.**

**By the way please go check out my friends Bucky/OC Fanfiction; No Longer In Shadow by FallingIntoDarkness it is awesome and she is like one of my best friends so go go! :)**

**So random question, If you imagine Steve and Bucky doing Karaoke, what would their song be? (I just had the giggle imagining them singing Grease's 'You're The One That I Want') - Told ya it was random.**

**Anyhow, hope you enjoyed. **

**(Oh and by the way... Thank you so much to Retainerz for adding me to your Bucky/OC community :D)**

**See ya soon for Chapter Seven  
Danielle xx**


	7. Chapter 7 - Elves and the Coffee Maker

**Well helloooo, Happy Sunday my lovelies :D**

**Chapter Seven is here and its the longest of the chapters so far, from now on they will be a little more in depth and longer (Not too much but sometimes I don't know when to stop.)**

**Hope you guys enjoy, see you at the bottom.**

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**Disclaimer: Marvel own everything. **

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CHAPTER VII

Maggie had known something had happened as soon as she had step inside of the house that night. Billy hadn't said anything to either of them; Bucky must have known, and he had trying to apologize for wrecking his bathroom, Billy's only response was a clap on the shoulder and telling him to forget about it. The two of them had done their best to put everything as right as they could. There were things that couldn't be so easily rectified, like the broken mirror, the shredded shower curtain and nor one of the t-shirts Maggie had gotten him.

She'd snooped and found the rubbish, the missing mirror and shower curtain and a blood stain on the mat by the bathroom sink they had missed, and she tries to get Billy to open up but he just denies her the chance. She can't help but think Bucky is avoiding her over the next day or two, deciding he suddenly wants to spend his time in the basement. But whenever she came in the morning to take care of Roberta she would come down to see a fresh mug of coffee left on the side, waiting for her.

He couldn't avoid her completely, and she could see his tracks throughout the house, none more surprising as when she arrived back after her shift a little earlier than expected to find him coming out of Roberta's room. There was an awkward moment on the landing where he just returns her hello before heading back to the basement.

She hadn't lingered long, feeling a sense of rush to see if Roberta was okay. Turns out she was fine and sound asleep. Everything in the room had been as she had left it. All apart from one thing. A book. 'Gone With The Wind' which she had started reading to her a few days previously to help her wind down and get off to sleep.

If the book being marked a couple of chapters ahead of where she left it wasn't enough, Maggie slipped into conversation, nonchalantly with Billy on whether he was enjoying the book and his expression told her everything.

She wasn't quite sure how she felt about it, yes to be honest she found it rather odd but at the same time there was something underlining of a feeling of comfort and warmth.

But it also did rouse questions as to why he was only avoiding her, he and Billy seemed to be conversing slightly, and he was now even spending time with Roberta, but he can barely even look at Maggie.

And by Sunday morning when she arrives to find her coffee awaiting her, she had had enough. It seems Billy felt something needed to be done too, and suggested he get some fresh air. That she was to take him out, even if it was to the end of the street and back. Initially Maggie had thought it was a terrible idea. Ridiculous. What if someone was to recognize him? Of course there wasn't much to recognize him with but a few blurred pictures, and okay maybe his arm but every point Maggie made it seems Billy had thought of a convincing response.

So she agreed, she would need to nip to the shop anyway and it was only around the corner.

However it was Bucky who put up the most resistance. There he was on the floor doing sit ups, not even breaking a sweat, and being rude. Okay he was answering her questions, but it was as though he was just talking to fresh air.

In a bit of temper she picks up a mammoth sized book and drops it on his stomach, eyes dark, annoyed.

"Get up!" She commands, "And stop behaving like a moody fifteen year old girl."

The book itself didn't hurt him, but the actions that were behind it triumphed in getting his attention, looking to her as she came to crouch down beside him as he pushes himself up and rests upon his elbows.

"You can't spend the rest of your life in here. And you can't spend the rest of that time behaving like I don't exist." She interlocks her fingers, "I don't deserve it"

She did feel it true, but she also knew it was a card she was playing, one that actually had his eyes reacting to her for a change.

"I don't think it's a good idea" Bucky actually manages to string a sentence together.

"Okay… and what if I said I was scared to go on my own?" She had a whole deck of cards to deal.

"I'd say… you… wouldn't be being honest with me. You don't usually have a problem"

Oh so it seems that since he spoke to her last he had grown an attitude and the art of sarcasm. He was perplexing her; the roles seemed to be reversed.

"Maybe I'm not being honest with you, or maybe I am and this is a dangerous street and neighbourhood. Are you really willing to take the chance?" She bows her chin to her right shoulder and bats her lashes.

Wide eyed and confused, he feels like he should look away. Like there was something hypnotizing about her.

Like magic he sighs the signal of defeat.

She needed to say nothing more, and just gets up and heads up the stairs, talking to herself.

"Why? Why oh why is it always the lashes that do it for a guy?"

***T*C***

"Anyone told you, you take longer than a woman to get ready?" Her eyes look on over him and he is wearing jeans, a t-shirt she had bought him, a hoodie zipped right to the top. Then a cap and his hood over the top.

"I don't want to risk getting any attention" Bucky thought she would have been in full support of him keeping his identity a secret.

"Well dressed like that you will. You look like you're about to rob a bank. Here…" She steps closer, right before him and he stops breathing.

Maggie reaches up on her tiptoes and pulls his hood down, screws up her lips as she thinks about the cap and decides to let him keep it in order for him just to feel secure. But she pinches the zip and pulls it in one swift swoop to the bottom, letting it hang open.

She's wearing perfume, and he picks up scents of flowers and a citrus sweetness that has him swallowing, suddenly feeling like he could drink a sea dry.

Maggie keeps her eyes trained on anything from the neck down, she can feel his eyes on her and they're burning her flesh, the heart sending a burst of red up her neck to her cheeks.

"That's better. It's summer after all." She reminds them both, as she was attempting to palm herself off with the idea that her blush was nothing more than flushness from the hot weather, and her hasty retreat to the door for fresh air, calling out to an oblivious Billy that they wouldn't be long.

***T*C***

So things were pretty quiet, and not just meaning the shop was pretty vacant. You could cut the atmosphere between them with a knife, and yet neither of them wanted it to be there.

Maggie lets the basket swing between them as they wander up the aisle, her jade eyes scanning the shelves for anything of interest.

"Just get whatever you want" She tells him for the second time.

"I will"

Silence.

Once finished the basket between them was replaced with a bag.

Silence.

Bucky was beginning to feel warm under the thick fleece-like material of the hoodie.

Silence.

Maggie wonders if she forgot her bank card in the shop. Nope it's in her pocket.

Silence.

'_This Neighbourhood doesn't look at all dangerous'_ Bucky thinks to himself.

Silence.

_'Well no need in protecting me from possible street crime, the silence will kill me,'_ Swims through Maggie's mind.

Silence.

_'Maybe I should comment on the weather'_ Bucky parts his lips and then closes them again.

Silence.

_'Jesus Christ, say something. Anything. Talk to him about the weather!'_ Maggie's subconscious attempts to give her a kick up the backside.

Silence.

Both: '_Wait did he/she say something?_'

"Roger! Roger get back here now!" Both their heads spin to the right to see a middle aged man running across the park after his Spaniel who must have gotten a smell under his nose.

Harmoniously they share a gurgle of laughter.

Finally having enough Maggie stops in her tracks, and it only takes a couple more step ahead before he stops and turns. Rolling her head, Maggie signals for him to follow her, and he obliges.

"Where are we going?" Bucky questions, not really too bothered about the answer, just wondering what is going through her mind, as they cut down a grass bank and across the lawn of green to the fenced area.

"I don't want to go back just yet. It's really sunny today." To her it is stating the obvious, but to him he was just thankful to hear her voice. Maybe he should make more of an effort. He had been the one to stay out of her way the past couple of days.

Walking off in front, Bucky trails behind just willing to go wherever she was taking them. It turns out she wanted to sit on the swings.

"Do you want me to push you or something?"

She shakes her head in partial response, "No, I want to you sit down and tell me why you've been avoiding me these past couple of days"

Maggie figured they'd beaten around the bush for long enough with all the silence, and she was willing to beat it out of him if necessary.

Bucky glances around, everything was pretty quiet. No children were playing on the park, as it was school time and just a few owners walking their dogs but at a distance.

Eyeballing the metal chains that embraced the rubber seat, he accepts her invitation to sit. However the second part, he wasn't sure where to start.

"I ruined the one of the t-shirts you bought me" He deadpanned.

"Bull-shit!" She called and Bucky was take off guard with her tone, language and also calling him out.

While a part of it was true, he realized he wasn't going to get away with mediocre excuses and needed to be honest.

"I…" Looking to the sky for inspiration, he realizes he owes her the trust, "I watch you walk around and everything you touch, every thought that passes by your eyes is a way for you to help somebody. And some of the time that someone is me, and I can't… understand… Why?" He looks to her, bearing himself to her in order to have an understanding.

Maggie captures a hold of his diamond blue iris's, so tainted and lost, and she didn't know how to give him what he was looking for. She could give him answers, but it really wasn't answers he was looking for, he was looking for a way to be released from his pain and guilt. Things no amount of words that pass her lips could erase.

She comes to lean her temple against the chain, "I'm not at selfless as you think I am. There is nobody selfless in this world, nor how many others there they may out there. And that day when you stepped out in front of the car and I hit you. It didn't matter to me who I hit, who or what it was. I'd hit something, and do you know the first thing that hit me? I couldn't bear to think I might have killed or seriously hurt someone. Guilt.

"There is darkness inside of everyone. Some people never uncover it, some know it's there but ignore it. Some people embrace it, deluding themselves with fantasy that what they are doing is… somehow what's right. People who the darkness creeps upon them and fall into shadows. Then there are people who are just evil and search for it. And those people, push darkness upon others" She bows her head towards him.

"I cannot take away your guilt, and I'm sorry if I remind you of it. You will never lose that guilt, or turn back time. You have to live with what you did, whether someone made you, or you did it intentionally. Sometimes guilt pushes you back into the darkness and a downward spiral begins. Or you can embrace the guilt and use it." She looks away, down to her feet that move back and forth from heel to toe, rocking herself back upon the swing. "That decision is with you and how strong of a man you are. I just think maybe it helps when you have people around you that care."

"That's enough philosophy from me for one day"

Bucky tears his eyes away, allowing her words to sink in without being distracted by anything else about her. The world truly was a strange place, and it became stranger by the day, but for him he saw a glimpse of hope in what she shows him with her words. Hope, an emotion he had failed to encounter or feel until that moment.

"Wise words for a woman sitting on a swing" His chest rattles with silent humour, and yet he could hear hers.

"True. Very true." She leans down and opens up the bag by her feet and pulling out two chocolate bars, holding one out to him. "Here, Chocolate numbs everything. At least that's my excuse." waving it until he takes it from her.

The two sit there enjoying the sunshine and the chocolate, Bucky even finding it impossible not to rock himself a little in the seat, a small sense of comfort coming with it.

"So… you don't… hate me then?" He blurts out, mopping up any chocolate staining his lips.

"No, of course not!" She hated his past and what was made of him, but she definitely didn't hate the man before her, "You wouldn't even feel the need to ask me, if I did. So no more silent treatment, unless I tell you otherwise." Her flat feet bring her to a stop so she can rise to them and shift to stand before him, holding out her hand like he had to her that first night when he woke up.

"Friends?" Her ear inclines towards her shoulder, awaiting his approval of the truce.

"Can I… uh… think about it?"

Well she was not expecting that, and after everything they'd just spoke about she feels… yes she feels hurt and she isn't afraid to admit it.

"Wow thank a lot. Now I feel like a witch. I thought we were making process" She withdraws her hand and they become uncomfortable so she tucks them away by crossing her arm.

He stands and casts a shadow over her, with his massive head and his ridiculously broad shoulders. Maggie wanted to kick him in the shin, but played the mature card and just turned to pick up her bag.

"I've been wondering how you would react if the tables were turned"

"Tables turned?" She pivots, to see a hand thrust out await her, and a smile playing on his handsome lips.

_Handsome lips?_

"I might be Mr. Serious of late, but somewhere in my past I've acquired a sense of humour, Friend"

Maggie runs her tongue over her left top set of molars, before poking it into her cheek, "Mmm," she decides since he looked so pleased with himself, she would allowing him his glory this time. The fresh air must have gone to his head.

She slaps her hands into his, "So I guess now being a friend, it's my job to be honest with you and tell you… don't ever take up a career as a comedian"

***T*C***

The new ability enabling Bucky to tease Maggie was one that brought him enjoyment and pleasure. Even if it was for a few seconds or minutes the release was no more prominent than upon his shoulders. He didn't expect he had the right to laugh or even smile but sometimes his inability to prevent was too strong that his resistance wasn't without its cracks. He knew he should, he knew that so many people would insist he only ever felt pain and spent his existence exiled from life and the wonders that bring with it.

Maggie wasn't without judgement, of that he was sure, but neither did she look at him with hatred or disgust if he were to crack a smile. Billy was the same too.

As for Billy, he did see differences between him and Maggie. He found another enjoyment in just watching them, whether together or apart. Some things about them were similar, their passion to help people and there caring natures, but they were both different in how they approached their aspects of personalities and life.

He hadn't failed to notice Billy had never once left the house since his arrival, something forbid him from leaving the house and he wondered what it was. He wondered if he should ask in case he could help somehow; let him know he had nothing to fear. But how could he when he didn't know what he was afraid of?

With Maggie having left for work and Billy down in the basement, Bucky finds himself left to his own devices and he is quite alone. The television holds no interest for him. Roberta is sleeping and he struggles to find a way to pass his time.

He knew Maggie wouldn't be returning tonight, so he did not have her company to look forward to, but he must find a way to occupy his time and mind.

Bucky began his search for a book; something to read perhaps would do the trick. He could consume his time in the drama of someone else's fictional life.

However among the books upon the shelves lay a small white piece of technology that sparks recollection of music, the night he had woken here in this house. He remembered the voice of Frank Sinatra. At the time he hadn't given it much thought, but now he wondered how music could come from something so small.

_Shit, what did he do?_

He'd only picked it up and the screen had come on, he might have caught a button but he wasn't sure what.

Unravelling the white wires from around it he begins pressing a series of buttons and from somewhere he could hear music. It seemed very distance and low, but it seemed to be coming from the ends of the wire.

Lifting them to look first, he draws them to his ear where the music because increasingly louder and less muffled. This time he didn't recognize the song and it was music different what he had considered music, but he was no longer in the forties. And from what he recalled, he always had an interesting in what the future might bring. Somewhere in that there is irony.

Holding the earphone to his ear, he perches down into the armchair and discovers it to sit comfortable in the ear.

Running across the screen was reading out 'Michael Jackson'. He didn't know the song, but from listening he understood the high pitched man was very interested in knowing if Annie was okay. He imagined that if he was born in this day and age he would find it something he might dance to. And without him even knowing so by the end of the song there is a trace of movement.

The next song was again upbeat and with several men singing this time, one of them having yet again another high pitched voice telling his girl, Bye in multiple of three's, he had to wonder where the balls of these men resided.

But either way he settled back into the chair and listened to song after song, sometimes men, others women, sometimes both. There were a few tracks with the same title of 'Queen', and he became fond of each as they played on, there were no squeaky voices and the songs ranged between upbeat and quite slow and a lot of meaning, realizing most songs he had listened were love.

Continuing with the music, the sound suddenly shifts, more like a rustling noise followed by a twinge of an instrument muffled with a cough or some sound of clearing of throat.

As a guitar begins to gradually produce a soft melody, his eyes cast themselves down to the screen to read 'Recording 001'. An angelic, almost whispered voice begins to sing.

The sound of the song seemed less professional than all the others, but while it may lack that he felt it made up for in soul, with nothing but the guitar and the beautiful voice bringing the words to life, a new sense of depths to the music. As though personal, someone living there lives within song.

He wasn't sure he'd ever heard anything like it in all of his time, it definitely became hypnotizing for him, and within the words he hears an underlining pain that gave the voice its heart and conviction.

He spent him time listening to every lyric and note, hearing her nail and mean everyone. The rich hint of huskiness pulling him into the mind of the singer, and Bucky founds himself involuntarily smiling as the chorus strikes and the girl pours her heart out as those nobody is listening, mentally encouraging the girl to give it all she got.

He was more than pleased when 'Recording 002', was the same female.

Slowly he rested his head back, eyes closing; hoping his lack of sight would only enhance his sense of hearing. One by one his bones melted into nothingness with an ocean below him just holding him upon its surface.

***T*C***

Across town Maggie takes her stroll towards the nurse's station, a low private hum of song gracing the air that clung around her.

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**So there we have Chapter Seven, again I hope you enjoyed. I think they reached a new understanding, and Bucky now knows what Hope is.**

**So random question, (I'm watching World War Z) The world is overcome with a zombie like craze, you have ONE Avenger to protect you. Who do you choose? (I would say Loki, one because he could just take me to Asgard, two he is probably the one that caused it. But since he isn't technically an Avenger I would go for Thor for the first reason. I'm a coward.)**

**So leave me a review if you're feeling generous, I really do love having feedback :)**

**See you soon  
Danielle xx**


	8. Chapter 8 - I Spy

**Hey Everyone!**

**Sorry for the little delay in update. I've been a little busy.**

**But here is Chapter 8, hope you enjoy :D**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I just wish I did ;)**

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CHAPTER VIII

The armchair had become a sponge for the perspiring, sleeping Bucky, whose flesh was drenched in a clear sheen of gloss, with his usual pale grey t-shirt now almost black with the wetness. He'd attempted all this time to avoid sleep, to keep his mind from wondering to places he could not control. But it was the deadly screams and someone calling his name that finally dragged him back to reality.

He was on edge and unaware of himself, still stuck somewhere between reality and nightmare. With clenched fist, his bionic arm is risen and ready to make its swing.

"Woah. Bucky… it's me Billy. It's Billy"

For a moment he couldn't place the name or the voice, but finally on sight, with his whole chest quaking, familiarity stopped Bucky from making a terrible mistake and hurting his friend.

Wide eyes scan the room as he drops his arm, looking for anyone hurt, any blood or screams. But there was no sound or sight, other than of being safe in the house and his ragged breaths.

"I fell asleep?" he murmurs in disbelief, wondering how he could have let himself.

"Uh… yeah. You've been asleep all day, it's nearly ten. I was going to ask you to give me a hand with my Ma earlier, but you seemed to needed the rest." Billy informs him, Bucky's eyes coming to realize the room was now lit by artificial light, rather than the sun.

Sitting up, he couldn't believe that not only had he slept, but had slept for so long before the terrors of the slumbered mind had laid their curse upon him.

"Maggie?" His strange voice inquires as he feels a tugging at his t-shirt, looking down to see the white cable end hooked into his collar, a slight nudge, releasing it. No sound was coming from it, or any images upon the screen.

"Maggie's at work"

Bucky shakes his head, pulling at the hot t-shirt gripping his body, "Of course" he holds out the musical player to Billy, returning it to him, not thinking it wise he listened to it again, if it were to make him sleep.

"It's not mine. I don't think Maggie will mind you borrowing it" But he accepts it anyway, noticing the battery had died, and taking it over to retrieve his own charger from the drawer, so it could absorb life again.

Oh it had been Maggie's. He didn't seem to give it any other thought than that, he was too concerned by mentally beating himself up for sleeping.

"So I'm going to get an early night. I have to get Ma up early." Billy states before he pauses, "Are you okay?"

Bucky looks on up, and forces a fake smile in time with nodding his head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Is it too late for me to wash?" He couldn't bear spending the whole night with this dampness coating his body.

"Nah man, do whatever you need." He goes to turn away, but stops, telling him to help himself if he was hungry. Just maybe stick to something cold rather than cooking. Bucky didn't need the warning and last thing he was thinking about is food, but he appreciated it anyway.

Billy leaves, taking the stairs to go to bed, while Bucky sits there for a few moments longer, blowing out his checks and rubbing the back of his neck where his annoyingly long locks were gathered and glued to his flesh.

***T*C***

It was always busy on weekends, but by Sunday night things began to wind down slightly, everyone having recovered from Friday and Saturday night mayhem. However there was still plenty of work to be done, and rounds to make. Heading back to the station after only just finishing up with the medication round, she is met with a not too happy face.

The 'gentleman' is clutching a hold of the counter, unsteady upon his feet and alcohol fumes enough to rid the whole corridor of its usual clinical swimming with bleach smell.

"I've been heeer… thwo ho… ho…urrs" The clearly intoxicated man, really doesn't seem to be doing well with controlling any part of himself.

"Okay" Maggie speaks, ready to spring out and catch him at any moment, "Well why don't you sit back down for a moment and I'll find out what's happening for you, okay?" She attempts to lead him back over to the small cove that acted as a waiting room however the man didn't seem too pleased with that, and was swaying and pointing his finger in her face, babbling on about how he worked his whole life and played his medical insurance, and how he shouldn't have to wait. Something slurred about how women these days didn't know there place, that he'd never let a woman tell him what to do.

He was beginning to get quite loud and aggressive, and Maggie had no other option but to warn him that she'd have to call security if he wasn't to sit down and calm down. However she should know better than to tell anyone to calm down, as it only triggers their behaviour to get worse, and exactly what happened in this situation when the drunken man grips a hold of her wrist, demanding respect and to see a doctor.

Her lips parted to tell the man to release her, and her own hand was peeling at his fingers, but someone else stepped in for her, "Hey, hey!" A tall figure in maroon comes to her rescue. "Let her go. Now!" It was a man, one of the male nurses who didn't seem to hold onto as much professionalism as she had tried to, a needed hint of threat in his stamina.

Apparently the drunken man was willing to threaten and run his mouth to females, but not a man, causing him to release her.

"Thank you" Maggie offers her gratitude to her rescuer as they return to the station, asking April for the information on the man.

"It's okay. The doctor told him to go home, ages ago. Don't know why he is still hanging around." The tall man, she recognized as the new nurse that had started on her team today, and his handsome good looks had already causes giggles and whispers from the other female nurses.

Maggie wasn't one of them, but she couldn't deny that he seemed to have good genes when it came to the looks department.

"Well then, April will you do me a favour and call him a cab, and ask Phil from security to fetch him once it's arrived, please?" Maggie asks the sweet student nurse for her help and she was more than happy to assist.

Maggie glances to her fog watch, seeing she had gone into a couple of minutes of her break, her Caffeine cravings thinking she had abandoned her.

"Dwayne" A hand was extended out to her from the man still at her side, "Maggie right? We didn't get the chance to formally meet this afternoon"

With a smile, Maggie accepts his hands and shakes it, "Yeah I'm sorry about that. It's been busy. How's the first day going?"

"All the better for finally getting to talk to you" Wow, wasn't he bold?

"Ooooo" She laughs, "Reeeally?" She looks up to him entertained, suckling the inside of her cheek. "Well then I'm glad I haven't disappointed" shaking her head, trying to cover her amusement. She was positive he had said that to every nurse he has met today, he did have that look to him.

"Well I'm missing my break… so… I'll see you around and thanks again for before" She side steps around and past him.

"Well if you wanna thank me properly you can always take me to dinner on Friday night" He calls over to her, and she is forced to turn around and walk backward, laughing at his audacity but she couldn't deny she quite enjoyed the charm.

"Sorry I'm busy Friday."

"Saturday then" He persists, the corner of her obviously gorgeous mouth curling upwards.

He was well aware of how good looking he was, "Busy then too. But if you can get someone to cover for you for ten minute… you can buy me a coffee"

It seems his charming ways made getting cover no problem at all, and the two were in the canteen, glancing at each other while they waited for the machine to brew they hot beverages, both assumingly amused by nothing.

They take a seat and she sips at her coffee. While her body craved it, she couldn't help but turn her nose up slightly at the mock that was considered coffee, finding herself wishing she had a Bucky coffee, even though it was always instant he seemed to be a master of getting it just how she liked it.

"What you thinking about?" The velvety voice of Dwayne snapped her from her distant thoughts.

"Oh… nothing. Just thinking the coffee here is terrible" She gives him her partial honesty, raising her eyes back to him. "So… how are you settling in? You seem to know your way around the more difficult patience"

"Ahh well working in Queens will do that to you"

Maggie quirks a brow, "Queens? Wow…"

"Don't give me that look! Why is it that whenever you say you're from Queen's everyone gives you this look of pity?" He leans forward and his complains are made with humour.

"I hardly said anything"

"You didn't need to." Dwayne bats back.

"Well I don't care. Right now wherever came from just helped me out so… I'm grateful." Maggie reflects honestly. "Sounds like you're just one with an insecurity problem" she adds her tease.

Yes there was a lot of flirting back and forth between them, and it seemed quite easy and natural. Yes she felt… attracted to him and she liked that he seemed to be attracted back. Any girl likes a bit of attention now and again, especially when she was in scrubs, hair a mess and little make-up on. But at the same time she wasn't about to drop to her knees, for any reason to please him or encourage him. She wasn't stupid; she knew if he wasn't paying attention to her he would be showing it to someone else. But for now she would embrace it, she didn't see any harm.

The two shared pleasant and effortless conversation, finding out one or two things about each other, namely about their career choices and his reasons for coming to Washington from New York.

She definitely thought it all beat sitting here on her own, in a daze while watching the clock. But usually it does go a lot slower that was for sure, because their twenty minutes were over quicker than they had begun.

"So… think you'll let me take you out?" Dwayne asks, shifting in his chair, with Maggie already on her feet.

She wanted to say yes, and live in this simple dream world with this dreamy guy, and her answer came before she could get to grips with the realism and hectic whirlwind that was her life, "Okay" her short answer is one because she wasn't sure what else to say and also because they were late to return to their shift.

Quickly grabbing one of the napkins, she helps herself to the pen in his chest pocket, beginning to scribble down her number. Folding it she holds it out to him between her middle and index finger,

"Message me."

And it was left there, she does get to see him again but only at glimpses for a rush was thrust upon them when a pile up on the highway has them once again rushed off their feet.

With the critical condition of a couple of the patients, the doctors required a lot of assistance. It was a long night on not without casualties, a young mother having lost her life and a helpless fiancé heart shattered, when the news was broken. You see many things working a hospital, and you can't save every person, but you don't feel the true impact until you hear the cries and wails of a grieving loved one.

You couldn't let it consume you, but you couldn't just be ignorant to facts of life and how precious it was.

Finishing just after six in the morning, she took extra care when taking the drive home. Her clothes sat where they landed as she crawled into bed with nothing but her underwear intact, the cover drawn over her head as the long hours of work creep up and takes their toll.

***T*C***

At the same time, with the cover of night now lost Bucky creeps back into the silent house, where the only thing awake was the cat, watching him from the top of the stairs. Something told him the cat wouldn't spill his secret night time stroll.

He hadn't been planning on leaving the house, nor did he do it with intentions of making trouble or jeopardizing the trust Billy or Maggie was learning to find within him. But his dreams had laid to heavy upon him and one memory in particular that involved Steve.

The idea that he might know where he was, was too hard for him to resist. And with the memory of his mission to erase him at the forefront of his mind, he had found himself stood upon a roof top looking out to the dark windows of the apartment he'd once tracked down.

But for a time there was no light or sign of life from the apartment and there were many explanations for why. Mainly the fact he wasn't stupid, at least not most of the time, if memory served him right. After the attack Bucky had made on the apartment when under the control of HYDRA, surely Steve realized his home address was compromised and had no intention of returning.

Either way Bucky had stayed there for a while, letting the cool breeze of the night cleanse his lungs, and wash away the haziness that comes with being stuck inside for days.

There was no question for him anymore who his last mission had been to him, that he was so much more than a mission, and had been his lifelong best friend and nothing about their relationship had been forced or implanted in his mind. It had been the most real thing his memories of the past he had to hold onto.

After all Steve was the only definition of real family he had ever had. So long had he protected and attempted to shelter the small guy, whose enthusiasm to abolish any obstacle that stopped him for perusing what his heart rather than his head was telling him to do, had always been remarkable. And now seventy years had past, and that day on the helicarrier he had proven how no amount of time, serum or cry-o could stop him from doing the work willed by his heart.

He'd sat there considering him to be an idiot, but within the insult Bucky knew it was his own heart speaking.

But without even Steve knowing, he was proving Bucky right, because the moron made a show. Apparently he was too big for his fancy boots, and must have felt him untouchable because some hour in the morning lights in the apartment were turned on and Bucky got the first glimpse at his friend.

Despite his friend's stupidity, he was glad to get the chance to see him. He seemed to be sweating and the wraps around his hands he came to the conclusion he had been taking a late night workout. He wondered if he struggled with sleep too, and also cramp. By god the cramp.

He bows his head towards his vibrating chest as a silent laughter rejoices in the sparks of his own sense of humour.

But it was put on halt as he lifts his head, eyes travelling back to the apartment, Steve by the door, standing with it open for a moment before moving back.

He had a guest, a blonde. A female and from what he could make out, an attractive one.

"Well, well…"

There was amply amount of room between them and he couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it's not a common occurrence to have a girl turn up at your door in the middle of the night. At least that was what he was assuming.

He had seen Steve's face enough times around women to know when he was fraught with awkwardness.

He watches them dance around each other for a while, but that is all that happened, and he felt a sense of relief, not wanting to be spying on something… intimate.

Bucky had no intention of making his friend aware of his presence, he knew nothing of the reaction or trouble it may cause, and while he trusted his friend, recent activities proved that the people he worked for couldn't be trusted. They would come face to face at some point, but not now.

The idea he would need to leave behind Billy and Maggie was inevitable, but there was something about being with them - A freedom. He wasn't ready to turn his back on them just yet…

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**There you have it, and hope you liked it :) **

**So yes Maggie is attracted to another man and agreed to the date, its all in purpose of the plot.**

**So Bucky finally sees Steve again. I love the two of them, and there will but a meeting between them, just not yet.**

**If you wanna visual on Maggie and Billy check out here /e4yzwc/full (just put twitpic dot com before it) Oh and along the lines of Gaspard Ulliel for Dwayne.**

**Next update will come soon, but until then,**

**Toodle Pip!**  
**Danielle xx**


	9. Chapter 9 - Summer Lovin'

**YAY, managing to post as usual. It's the weekend, I'm in a good mood haha.**

**So there is a bit of a development this chapter, for everyone actually. It's a more positive chapter and as always I hope you enjoy.**

**See ya below.**

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**Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything, apart from Sebastian Stan's eyes, he owns them but I would LOVE to. *Daydreams***

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CHAPTER IX

Maggie had let herself into the house that afternoon once she had caught up with her sleep. She'd taken one look at her apartment and vacated it, heading over to see the boys, feeling as though it had been awhile since she had last been there, albeit only having been just over 24 hours.

Despite the drab setting, she enjoyed knowing she had somewhere to go and be welcomed, somewhere she didn't have to be alone. Disregarding the underlining issue that makes the arrangement necessary, she was enjoying the little secret set up she could escape to. Another little secret was that she quite missed them when she wasn't around. Billy, Roberta, and yes Bucky too.

The weather was stifling, so she had dressed accordingly; finally digging out those denim shorts, winter has no use for. It was her day off, so she made a little more effort in scrunch drying her hair and adding a soft coral lipstick. She had a plan and it involved them all, and getting some much needed vitamin D.

"Can I get some help please?" There were two men in the house, she needed to put them to use somehow.

She unloaded the car, taking in the bags from WalMart, before going back to grab the lawnmower she had borrowed from the handyman's cupboard in her apartment building. With the state of their lawn she didn't imagine Billy owned one.

Bucky dropped to his feet, letting go of the pole avoid him. He was sure he just heard Maggie. Picking up the towel he gives himself a quick wipe down, and was satisfied his underarms didn't smell before he headed up the stairs from the basement. At first he couldn't see Maggie, but the front door was open and he could hear her.

"Damn wires, men they are useless" She mutter-cutters to herself, before Bucky sees a machine coming through the door, with a pair of struggling arms.

"We aren't that bad are we?" Bucky comments on her complaint, meeting her by the door to help her with the contraption, taking it from her and wondering what an earth it was.

"What is this?" He turns, careful not to hit or knock anything off.

"I'm going to give you a haircut" Her laughter jingles from behind him, and he snaps his head around to inform her she was going nowhere near his head with the item, despite his realizing she must be joking… surely. But all that was lost on sight of her, taken aback by _her_ but more so the amount of her he was viewing.

Legs. Who'd have thought for an average height girl she would have so much leg. He felt a sudden urge to pull her inside and close the door quickly so nobody would see her.

"Hey, you tied your hair back!"

He was well aware of it being a hot day, also that it was too hot for some kind of clothing. But he seemed to struggle with the reasons for her wearing so very little and relieving so much. So much that he… well, he was feeling a little hotter than a few minutes previously.

_Okay legs… Lets…calm down! _His thoughts correcting his thoughts.

For a long time he had been banished from all things intimate and of a sexual nature, perhaps a fleeting moment in his mind had he registered the attire of a woman and noted it might not be suitable and with disgust had averted his mind and concentrated on whatever mission lead him. But now there was no mission, no whispers of repulsion. He was left with nothing but his own mind, and his mind and body were having similar reactions, neither of them caused by revulsion, the polar opposite.

When a few seconds of his silence lingers, Maggie doesn't think much of it, but when the seconds seem to turn into minutes she begins to question his problem and feels a sense of insecurity under his gaze.

"James?" she reaches out and pokes his chest.

Bucky recovers from the initial surprise and catches a hold of Maggie's finger she used to poke him, taking his eye line to meet with hers, questioning himself into what to say or explain himself for his lapse of self-control.

"Hi" He smiles, "You look very… summery" well that's his choice of words he went with.

"Ah right…" she forgets about her finger, "I figured we needed to make the most of it, get Roberta some sunshine in the garden, Billy too"

_Finger Maggie, your finger darlin'._

Bucky released her just as she remembered it and nodded his head a few times, "You think it will be good for her?"

Maggie thought it nice that he had a fondness for the old woman, and he cared. But it wasn't the only thing that was nice, there was something different about him. His face seemed to have crumbled from stone, the rigidness in his shoulders still remained but the rest of him seemed to have a sense of ease, as though he wasn't thinking every action or word through before he produced them.

"A bit of sun never hurt anyone, being cooped up in that room wouldn't make anyone feel better. Same goes for Billy" She whispers the last part, and bends down to pick up the bags. "Speaking of Billy, where is he?" She wanders offer towards the kitchen, not needing to ask him to help with all the other bags.

"He seems a bit off today. He spent some time with his Ma earlier but since then he's been in his room" Bucky was just being honest, and he felt his statement was made correctly.

"Really? Has he said anything?"

Bucky simply shakes his head to answer her question.

"I'll go up and see him in a minute, shake him up. Will you help me bring Roberta down?" Maggie asks as she begins to unpack the bags of groceries and other things for them to make use of today. She glances around for her mug, unable to see it.

"Wait…" just as he is about to answer her first question, she is cutting him off, "No coffee today?" her orange painted lip rolling under in an exaggerated pout.

Unaware of when she'd arrive he hadn't known when to make the coffee for, "You're right. Well maybe you should have called beforehand" Leaning back on the counter, watching her and passing her an item when she asks for it.

"Oh so you're making demands from me now, Sergeant Barnes?"

He shakes his head, "No not at all, ma'am. I'll make you one right now if it will make you feel better, Miss ….." dawning on him he doesn't even know her surname, he suddenly wants to know, despite having never given it any thought before.

"I don't know your surname. Billy's neither." He states, sliding along the counter to out of her way of the cupboard, she stops as she realizes it's true. Also realizing that despite all this time spent together, as good as living in each other's pockets he didn't know anything about her - Other than she was a Nurse, addicted to Caffeine, demanding from time to time, and apparently not some Secret Agent out for his head.

"You're right. I suppose we never really did the official introductions, did we?" She pauses with a can of tomato pasta sauce clutched at her bosom.

"Flynn. My names Margret Flynn, Maggie for short, obviously. I'm twenty-five years of age, a natural red head with a sharp bite. Oh and Billy's surname is Cunningham. Anything else you wish to know?" She pushes herself up on her tiptoes to reach the top shelf of the overhead cupboards.

"I'm sure I could think of plenty. I'll write a list shall I?" He was quite sure he already had a list written on the back of his eyelids.

"You do that" She pats his real arm and he is sure he feels a light squeeze of her hand.

Someone was in a good mood today, refreshing to see and be in the company of, but nothing could be simple so she set to resolving whatever issue Billy was having. She had stopped just out of his room ready to knock when she hears Billy's voice inside,

"I want to meet you too. I just… it's just… I'm… it's…" Maggie pauses from following through with the knock, at hearing Billy's stuttering, firstly wondering who he was talking to, and secondly why he was so nervous.

"What if… what if… I'm not what you expect?" The air carries Billy's voice straight to Maggie's ears, leaving her with an unattractive frown, "I know… I know… I really like you too, more than… I just don't want to disappoint you, sweetheart"

Maggie claps her hand over her mouth, as to capture the squeal that threatened to give her eavesdropping away. Her eyes were wide and alive with happiness for her friend. She did want to kick him up the ass for his disbelief in himself, but overall she was overwhelmed with joy, and the urge to bombard him with questions after questions about her, though she may have to bid her time, with her shy friend.

"What are you doing?" A deep voice behind her, startled her in the midst of her rejoice, and she bounces her body like a child but with her feet motionless.

"Shhushhh" Worried that Bucky would give her again; panicking she listens again and suddenly hears footsteps.

Quickly turning around, she pushes at Bucky, who is confused but follows her voiceless commands, before she takes the lead grasping his hand and giving him a yank in the direction of Roberta's room.

For a small girl he is quite surprised by her strength. To be honest, he was beginning to wonder about her a lot. She does have a habit of behaving strangely now and again, and leaving him perplexed.

Bucky opens his mouth as they stand just inside of Roberta's room, but Maggie places her delicate index finger to his lips as she hears Billy's bedroom door open and a long deafening silence. The only other thing she can hear is her heart.

Looking away from the crack in the door, she is met with a pair of extraordinarily blue eyes - Their core growing bigger, pulsating with the rush in her chest. The usually pale blue suddenly alive with turquoise and speckles of silver, like mini pools of crystal clear Caribbean Sea. His risen cheekbones and eyes lids like the cliffs, calling for her to jump off and into them. So much that she involuntarily moves closer, she doesn't need to be swimming in them to be able to bask in their warmth, or to hold her breath as she dived in.

She'd been well aware he was handsome and had an awesome body; she wasn't that oblivious. And possibly in another story or world she'd let herself be attracted to him, but allowing herself to think any further than that wouldn't achieve anything other than a whole lot of disappointment and issues that neither of them could afford to face.

Finally hearing the click of Billy's bedroom down the hall, followed by footsteps and a creak of the bed, she lets herself breathe. "He's gone, back on his bed." She steps back.

As for Bucky, he'd allowed his mind to wander. He had done the second he saw her in those shorts. But he was being a man, which he had no lost. However the thought of someone looking to her, just seeing something sexual, he couldn't accept that. Many of years ago he would have asked her to dance, fed her a line of how he was off to war in the morning. But even then he didn't think she'd be too impressed or fall for the cliché. He imagined her rolling her eyes and waving her hand dismissively.

He enjoyed that she challenged him, I'm sure a long time ago she would have bruised his ego, but back then he wouldn't see her with the eyes he possessed now. And he was thankful for that.

"How do you know?" He hadn't really been listening, nor had he known what all the hiding and sneaking around was for.

"I can hear him. Women hear everything" She brings both of her hands up and slaps both his cheeks twice, in a cheeky gesture formed by her gleeful mood.

Heading off to tend to Roberta, greeting her with a brilliant smile while Bucky lurks in the corner for a moment.

"Strange girl" Bucky murmurs to himself under his breath, stepping forth ready to assist whenever she requires it.

Removing the blanket for a moment, it helped that Roberta was already in her chair and in a sitting position, "Big day today. We're going to spend some time in the garden. Bring some colour back into these cheeks."

Leaving her just a moment to get the hoist, she's turned around to see Bucky had already taken her place beside the elderly woman and was taking extra care in picking her up in the cradle position, "Woah, whatcha doing there Popeye? You shouldn't really… I mean she might get hurt"

"I've got her. She's not going anywhere. Just pass me the blanket to cover her with" Bucky asks of Maggie, and she is left with no option but to have roles reversed and let him take the lead, as he seemed to be managing just fine.

Placing the blanket over her, making sure she is covered and tucked in, Maggie smiles to Roberta, "Well look at you, being swept off your feet by a handsome strong man. Make the most of it girl, doesn't happen every day" Giggling, while the old lady looked less than impressed, but safe and quite comfortable.

"Are you sure you-"

"Yes Maggie, I have her!"

Maggie steps back in surrender, palms on show as she puts her trust in him. It was a rarity for him to be forceful, making it more beneficial and for you to know your place when he was. He was strong, let's face it even without the metal arm and serum, he was packing some guns and could carry a frail old lady who was nothing more than skin and bones.

Picking up a few items, such as slippers and plenty of warm clothing, Bucky is already half way down the stairs, "Billy. Bucky is kidnapping your mother" She calls out, with an edge of operatic.

"What?!" Came the baffled voice from her friend.

Instead of replying, she knew it would lure him out of his room and followed behind Bucky, catching up by the bottom, "Let me get the armchair out for her first."

Stopping, and carefully manoeuvring Roberta he lets Maggie past, so she could clear the armchair and begin to drag it out of the room, "Why don't you let me do that?" He asks.

"Because I'm more than capable, and you have your arms full."

It was easy enough and soon enough Roberta is out on the patio in her chair all nestled and cosy with the tree above offering ample shade.

"So… you think I'm strange?" Maggie finally blurts, having been holding her tongue since the moment the words were uttered passed him lips. Perhaps she shouldn't say anything, but she couldn't help herself. She wasn't at all offended, she was well aware she wasn't normal, even when she was trying to be.

"Pardon?" Bucky looks from the overgrown garden, to the flame haired girl who he thought for a moment might be able to read minds, because he was sure stranger things were possible in this world, "What would give you that idea?" He did find copious amount of satisfaction when he tested her, but he was also aware that any girl he had ever been around wouldn't take well to hearing she is thought of as strange.

"You did" Maggie's stance holds attitude, as she fixes her sunglasses upon the bridge of her nose, "Upstairs… about 5 minutes ago"

Bucky's neck winds back a little, recalling his mumble, he had never expected her to hear and partly said it to prove her wrong on her 'women hear everything' comment. However it turns out he was wrong… but how? Had he said it louder than he thought?

"I didn't mean…" He begins, addressing the issue of her thinking he had insulting her.

"Oh yes you did." Maggie begins wiping down the old discoloured table top that belonged to the plastic patio furniture. "But I quite like it. Means you don't know what to expect from me, and that is always fun," tossing him the damp cloth to wipe down the chairs, while she slotted the legs of the table into place.

"Ahh so you do it on purpose?" He nods his head, making use of the cloth in his hand, seeing past Maggie to register the arrival of Billy, lurking by the door.

"What's going on?" Billy is perplexed by the sight before him. He could not remember the last time his mother had left her room unless an emergency had risen and she'd been made to go to hospital. But now he saw her, chin angled up towards the sky as the sun rays weave their way through the leafs of the tree and illuminates her face.

"I think we're supposed to be enjoying the sun" Bucky speaks while he wipes his dirty hand on the thigh of his jeans, "Maggie's idea"

"Yes. Maggie's _brilliant_ idea!" She turns the table the right way up and dusting off her hands, smiling as she looks to a blissful Roberta. "Now get out here. One of you needs to mow the lawn, the other can weed. Roberta and I are just going to sit and watch, like ladies of leisure"

Well it would sure make a change, as eager she was to question Billy about his new lady friend, she would wait until the opportune moment rose. For now she was happy to watch someone else break a sweat. Plus she imagined it might be amusing to see.

Oh how it was! Maggie revelled in their inability to even turn on the piece of machinery; they contemplated all of the issues that might be wrong with it. Faulty wires, burnt out engine you name it, poor fools really should have flicked that switch up at the plug. Their awkwardness was all just adding to the show that was before the women.

"I really cannot stand gardening" Billy complains, as the two of them stood in the calf high grass, losing their feet.

"You can tell" Bucky replies with the truth, not aiming to insult, just making a simple observation for his solitary friend. He reminded himself he still needed to ask Maggie what all the sneaking around was for earlier.

"I sound bone idle, don't I?"

Bucky isn't quite sure on how to answer, his life hadn't exactly been hectic of late, so he didn't believe he had the right to judge, "You have your mother to care for."

Billy looks up from where he is tearing up the stick vine weed that had run wild over the edging of the lawn, "I suppose there is that. But I've been using that as an excuse, let's face it, Maggie does most of the work. Even you've done your part."

Bucky opens up a bin liner and crouches down beside him; this wasn't just about gardening, "You're hiding yourself from the world. Letting the four walls be your security, but maybe… they're becoming your prison at the same time" he begins helping with the weeds, feeling the prickles wanting to magnetize them to his skin.

Once upon a time Billy would have become defensive, he would have made many of excuses for himself, just so he could keep his head buried in the sand, but recently he had run out of excuses and life was beginning to crave more. He'd always craved more, daily he watched his mother deteriorate before his eyes, powerless to stop it and just watch little by little as she disappears completely. He knew, one day she would be gone, Bucky would move on, and he will be completely alone. For a man who has spent a lot of time enjoying his own company, that kind of solitude frightened him.

"You know what I said about Maggie? How she hides from her own issues by occupying her mind with everyone else's problems" a simple nod of confirmation allows Billy to continue, "well I think I'm the same." Billy admits.

"Maybe it's quite common. I know that day… I found out who I was and all I could think to do was run. I had no idea where I was running to and who from, but now I know I was running from myself," Bucky didn't know how Billy's issues affected him, but for his own reasons found he could relate.

It was a strange feeling for the both of them to open up, two men whose worlds were completely the opposite, but at the same time, for whatever personal reasons they had their similarities. For men it was hard to open up, especially about their faults. Many of people don't believe in superstition, but sometimes it creeps up on you, and for both men maybe something had drawn them closer so they could help each other. Maybe Maggie was included in that too.

"I've… I've met someone. A girl" Billy declares, while Bucky pieces things together, working out how this might have been the cause of Maggie odd behaviour earlier.

"Well I haven't met her so to speak…" Billy feels a hint of embarrassment, as he was sure his Friend wouldn't understand today's modern world and online dating. "We've spoke a lot over the internet. We met on an online site where you meet and talk to other Trekkies, Umm Trekkies are Star Trek fans…" he explains, but it is all going over Bucky's head, but he was paying attention to the real subject of the conversation.

"We have a lot in common, she's really lovely. Amazing actually, but she wants more. She wants us to meet, and I want to meet her too but how can I?" Billy motions to his rounded body really need Bucky to have some answers.

"You know… I used to know someone like you" Bucky ties the top of the full trash bag, finding a personal humour in history repeating. "He wasn't what society considered to be 'normal', only he tried hard to be, sometimes too hard. He'd give a good talk, had a good heart, and even I sometimes didn't believe in him. He hated his appearance so much, and loathed how it held him back that he risked everything to change it. And now apparently he is every girl's fantasy and everyone loves him."

He couldn't possibly be talking about… "Captain America?" Billy questions with surprise. Of course he knew the history, everyone who felt patriot to their country knew, and many more from the rest of the world, but listening to someone who encountered it all in person was quite remarkable.

Bucky bows his head, once, "To the world he is 'Captain America'. But to me, he's always just been Steve, a frail young kid I'd tried to protect and wrapped in cotton wool. At least… when my memory served me"

Despite the hatred for what he had lost, and how he had been so close to killing him, Bucky spoke with fondness and a new openness he didn't mind.

"The point is…" he strikes up again, "When you're out in the world with the eyes of the world on you, you will be the big guy, because it's only those that know you who get to see the whole picture. And I'm sure if this girl really does like you, she will too." Bucky reaches out and with a familiar action clasps the man by the back of the neck, enhancing his words with a friendly, manly gesture.

Across the garden, Maggie sat reading to Roberta, her eyes struggling to keep from peeking over to the occupied men, refusing to resist the smile they were bringing to her. Inside her heart, she thanked the day she ran Bucky Barnes over.

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**So I think I was generous this chapter... we got some good news for Billy and openness between the guys. We got some intimate eye connecting moments, and Bucky might just have a bit of possessive streak in him over Maggie's legs.**

**They will be some process over the next couple of chapters, they won't be making out or jumping into bed by the end of chapter 10, but again things will be developing, (Maybe some snuggling :O) **

**I'm writing chapter 14 at the minute, and lets just say Maggie is a little bit jealous... **

**Enough Teasers from me.**

**You know the deal, leave us a review if you have something to say... or just let me know you're enjoying it *Bats my lashes***

**Adios,  
Danielle xx**


	10. Chapter 10 - There You'll Be

**Hey guys, so here is the next chapter that follows on the same day. I really like this chapter, my personal favourite so far!**

**There are a lot of different emotions going on in this chapter, but I think you'll like them :D**

**So enough from me, go read and find out for yourself.**

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_**Disclaimer: Marvel owns everything**_

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_**CHAPTER X**_

By the time the sun was about to disappear upon the day, the three of them remained sat on the back garden, the light from the kitchen window and a candle giving them the soft light they needed to continue their evening after dark. Time to unwind after achieving everything Maggie had projected onto the day, and now they sit with beers, Roberta back in bed sound asleep.

Light music in the background formed an extra edge of a relaxing atmosphere, even if it was drowned out by the flowing conversations and the occasional chorus of laughter from the lack of seriousness banished from polluting any one of their spirits, and perhaps the alcohol helped loosen the odd muscle here and there, quite often the tongue and Maggie had admitted to her eavesdropping previously in the day, but for Billy it hadn't come as much of a surprise because he knew he'd heard and sensed something before.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Maggie reaches out and pushes playfully at Billy's arm as she lounged sideways on the armchair Roberta has occupied all day. "And I know you knew too" Kicking out her foot as her bent knees hang over the arm of the chair, and poking Bucky with her free toes.

"Don't bring me into this. I knew nothing about it until today. And the way you were sneaking around before I'm not surprised he's not rushed to tell you" Bucky grabs her foot as she goes to kick him again, and the two begin a silent struggle, Maggie for freedom while Bucky's only struggle is to keep himself from snickering.

"I wasn't sneaking, I just happened to overhear" Maggie states with a matter-of-fact attitude, the battle still in play between them.

"You two are like kids" Billy comments over the rim of the bottle at the oblivious pair, whose antics and playful behaviour with each other seemed to match the others stubbornness and for an onlooker would arise suspicion into just how much they both seem to really enjoy the growing attention from one another.

"Ah-HA!" Maggie rejoices as she worms her way free and then forces a look of disappointment, "I thought you were supposed to be strong?" Risking waving her newly freed foot, gloating.

"I am strong. But you're a girl…" was the only excuse he felt he needed to give.

"Oh, that right?" She swings her legs around to sit upon the chair properly and lean on the table with folded arms, "You think because I'm a girl I'm weak?" her narrowed eyes express a challenge, Maggie never one to admit to females being of the weaker sex, and most definitely not herself.

"I didn't say you were weak." Bucky mouth knots with wit as Maggie attempts intimidation. "I'm saying I'm not about to risk hurting you for the sake of messing around so I let you go"

"Oooooh! So you let me go now, huh? How gallant of you!" Maggie's voice dripping with sarcasm, "Come on, Arnie, let's do this. Man to woman" Maggie slams her elbow on the table, challenging him to an arm wrestle. Perhaps she had one or two beers more than she thought.

Bucky didn't understand the Arnold Schwarzenegger reference, be he knew what she was proposing and he cannot stop his laughter that rings out into the night breeze, her seriousness and determination astounding, but ridiculous. She was quite a feisty, competitive little thing. Deluded but feisty.

"I think I'll pass" Bucky drains off his beer and contemplating taking hers away from her. It made her dangerous.

"Why!? Afraid to lose to a girl, half the size of you, Mr Ponytail?" Maggie attempts to lure him in by questioning his masculinity, teasing to bring his alpha male out of him.

"No just afraid you'll strain yourself to hard and burst a blood vessel."

"Let me worry about straining myself. You use your strengths, I'll use mine." Maggie tightens her eyes while forcing a menacing glare as through she was in a Clint Eastwood western and about to a draw her gun, she was just missing a piece of screw to chew on.

Hand risen in the air she wiggles her fingers to attract him, and Bucky watches her wondering the true extent of her madness, but he let her twist his arm. After all maybe this girl needed a grip on reality, and that it was dangerous for her to go rushing into something. But for now it was all a bit of fun, so he copied her stance with his arm and their thumbs become interlocked, her hand was quite cold tonight, and for a change it was his hand that let her soak up the warmth to fuel the blood in her veils.

Over the clasped hands they stare at each other, Bucky straining his resilience against smiling, while Maggie lets her competitiveness drive the grin upon her face.

"Three… Two… ONE!" Maggie counts down.

_Jesus Christ! _Their thoughts were in unison as the battle begins.

For Bucky, once again he is surprised by the forces she has in her petite frame, he thought he could just let his arm sit there, but he had to use a little more muscle than he estimated. But Maggie, well Maggie is disappointed in herself. He was much stronger than she had anticipated and he didn't even seem to be putting any force into the game.

Of course he was strong; he was a modern day version of the six million dollar man. But as she had said, he had his strengths and she had hers.

Maggie's fingers even struggled to grip the enormity of his hand but she tried and she could feel the burn in her bicep and tightening in her shoulder as she combats not only the bolder of a man, but her own integrity that there was no chance she was going to win. This wasn't a test against him; this was a test against herself.

Her face was beetroot, her eyes scrunches up and she looked constipated, to Bucky it was hilarious. She was like a child frustrated with herself, but was too spirited to give up. He had contemplated just winning, smashing her hand down against the table, but he appreciated her efforts.

Maggie tears her gaze away from her struggling hand to look into the eyes of her competitor, and he was enjoying this far too much. She had to do something, and she wouldn't let him win. Oh she was a determined girl and if she wanted something enough she would make it happen. There was a few way she could take this, but she decided it best to take the simplest. So she begins to creep her foot across the floor under the table, being precise in her direction.

Bucky notes something changes within her eyes, mischief, as she wets her top lip with her tongue and draws him in with flirtation. Perhaps there was a moment of falter, but he wasn't about to fall for it comple—

_Shit!_

Suddenly her hand wasn't the only thing touching him, her foot was joining in with the game. But this time she did not kick him, no this touch was more thought out, left him with more of an effect. Hidden under the table her foot makes contact with his leg, a sensual, provocative movement as her foot caresses the outside of his thigh.

The foreign feeling of being touched in a sexual way and just the pure shock has him distracted by the literal matter at hand and Maggie's timing it perfectly and drives the thick stem of pure muscle and the mountainous knuckles slamming down to the table, the crash causing the table to shudder and shake, leaving a clash of a few empty bottle losing their balance.

"YESSSSSSS!" Maggie cries out, up on her feet in celebration of her win, dancing around and in Bucky's face to gloat. She did it! She knew she could and she did, she beat the great Winter Soldier in an arm wrestle.

The daze that had taken claim to Bucky wavered with the freedom of her foot against his leg, realizing that she had in fact won…

"Yeah yeah you won… once you'd cheated" He called.

Maggie immediately stops dancing, despite the remaining bounce in her feet, "Cheat? Oh no, Mr Barnes, I said you could use your strengths and I would use mine. It's your fault you're so easily distracted." She sways her shoulder with attitude and joy.

"You were rubbing my thigh with your foot" Not that he needed to remind himself, for particular reasons it might be best if he were to forget.

"I was" Maggie had no shame in admitting it, "But it's not my fault you can't handle a little touchy touchy from a lady, is it?" Her eyebrows spring upon her forehead, her grin forming a dimple within just one of her cheeks, so youthful and boisterous.

Bucky began to open his mouth to retaliate to her claims but decided for this once he would allow her the glory, for he was not about to share or go into the conversation of how it had been a long time since he hadn't had any 'Touchy touchy from a lady' as she seemed to put it, and she seemed so happy despite it being nothing more than a childish game.

Billy watched on, he didn't mind that it had all been an distraction from questioning him about his love life, but he wasn't sure how he felt about the two's antics, he felt amusement yes but also a sense of wary. They may seem oblivious but Billy was not.

***T*C***

"No Billy… I'm going to be just fiiiine" Maggie sings as she plonks herself down on the sofa, having one too many beers meant she couldn't drive home and she was more than happy to crash down on the sofa, Bucky assured him he would be fine on the futon mattress, as secretly he had no plans to sleep.

"I kinda like this, you boys running around after me for a change" She produces a giggle as she snuggles down, kicking off her flip flops and smiling up to Billy who covers her over with a blanket. He was such a sweet man.

"Your lady-friend is one lucky girl, my lovely Billabong" She reaches up to pat both of his hairy cheeks, the nickname coming from nowhere, perhaps she was a little merry, "But prepare yourself, you are not let off the hook, tomorrow… I want to know everything. Okay?"

He agrees and gives her a kiss to the forehead, "Whatever you say. Now get some sleep." He rubs her hair and looks over to Bucky who sits himself down in the armchair, "You want a kiss too Bucky?" Billy jokes.

"Nah, I think I'll manage, Buddy. Go sleep. I'll watch over this one" He guts his thumb towards Maggie who is snuggling under her blanket, the late night entertainment outside having left her feeling chilly, and no surprise with her lack of clothing all day.

Billy says a final goodnight and heads up the wooden hill to his bedroom, the two houseguests ruling over his living room, but more than welcome for them to do so.

Maggie had only been lying down for moments when she was pushing herself up and to her feet.

"Where are you going now?" Bucky asks, wondering if she ever just stops and rests.

"I want some milk. I'm peckish… I wonder if there are any cookies." She licks her lips liking the sound of that.

"Well let me go" Bucky offers but she just pats him on the shoulder, letting him know she was fine to do it by herself.

After a few moments of listening to her rummaging around in the kitchen, a few doors opening and closing and a pouring noise she comes wandering back in with her arms full of sugary treat.

"You like your food. Where do you put it all?" Bucky was still full from their food at dinner time, and he hadn't notice her ever food shy.

"You'd be surprised. I was always a chubby kid growing up. Cookies were my best friend" Her gurgled laughter is drowned out by the ruffling of the packaging around the Oreo's.

"I find that hard to believe" He remarks as she reaches over offering him some but he waves his hand dismissively, causing her to shrug and help herself.

"Oh I was. My sister called my Maggie Monster, opposed to Cookie Monster."

"Bit harsh?"

Maggie shakes her head, "Nah, she was spotty and had glasses. I got her back" She speaks before filling her mouth with a cookie, Bucky chuckling to himself.

"So you have a sister?" He inquires, it being the first he's heard her mention the fact, and actually she hadn't really mentioned any family.

"Mmmhmm" She hums with her mouth full, covering it as she finishes chewing the biscuit in order to answer.

Washing it down with some milk she feels secure enough to speak, "Yeah she's a couple of years older than me. Apparently that meant when we were kids she had the right to terrorize me. Do things and then put the blame on me. The usual stuff younger siblings have to endure." Maggie takes a few cookies from the packet before sitting back, relaxing on her elbow, "And you? Any siblings… well in the past" Realizing after she asked that it could be a sore subject, but Bucky doesn't allow it to be. It was all a long time ago.

"Not that I ever knew of. My mother died before I can even remember and then my father when I was about eight" He reveals, and thanks to Wikipedia she was already aware of these facts, but it was different hearing it in person, she was a little older when she lost her parents and hadn't been able to cope, not in the slightest, but she was nineteen, she was reasonable capable of looking after herself, while she couldn't imagine what it must have been like to be an orphan at the age of eight.

Her initial reaction was to apologize, but she hated that and she would have literally kicked herself if she had. She remembered how every person she saw after her parents death had said they were sorry. She never understood why, they hadn't killed them. But they say it because they don't know what else to.

"Must have been hard… being alone so young" Maggie picked at the cookie, disinterested in it and just making crumbs.

Bucky sits in the armchair and shakes his head but she is too occupied with the biscuit to see. He knew she wasn't looking at anything but her own loss in her mind, "Billy… told me. Well he just mentioned about your parents" He approaches it with sensitivity, expecting nothing from her, nor wanting to upset her.

"I thought he might…" She looks up and gives him a glimpsing sad smile, letting him know it was okay. "It was a sensitive subject for a time, he worries any mention would… tip me over the edge maybe. I mean… I was angry, even thought it was an accident, I wanted something or someone to blame and pay. But now… I just see that its life, they drove along that road nearly every day; they knew it like the back of their hands, they knew to be careful when it was icy but…" She raises her shoulders, trying to play it off while she couldn't stop the tear that escaped the confinements of her eyes, quickly wiping it away, but not quick enough to stop Bucky from noticing.

He watched her, suddenly feeling a wave of instant dislike to see her upset or cry. And for a moment or two he resisted the urge to go to her in an attempt of comfort, not wanting to crowd her, but the impulse washed over him too strongly. Slowly and silently he stands and makes the short distance over to her.

Maggie sees him out the corner of her eyes and the shadow he cast as he lowered himself down onto the sofa beside her. He didn't crowd her, or touch her, he was just there and for Maggie she raises her eye to offer him a smile of gratitude, waving off his efforts to apologize for upsetting her.

"I just deny myself the thought of them. But it's fine. Really" She reaches out her hand and places it upon him, resting on the forearm of the steel arm, and for the first time ever he didn't flinch away whenever someone came close to touching it.

Eyes remaining on her hand and his arm, she remained unmoved for a moment but then her twitching fingers betray her and slowly begin to explore just a small area, finding herself fascinated. The ridges were quite sharp and extremely precise, the metal smooth and with a hint of warmth.

"It's like a palm tree" She blurts in her hypnotized state, "I mean… it would make a perfect back scratcher" again, not something she would ever expect she would say, nor had Bucky ever thought or heard such a comparison. But the strange and certainly… unique description gave him an extra feel of ease.

"It's strange… at first you can't help but notice it, but now… sounds a bit cliché but its… you. Okay technically it's not you, but what I mean when I look it doesn't jump out at me. I suppose what I'm saying is, I don't know you any differently." She tries not to sound too insensitive as she knew he was insecure about it, most of the time had it covered and as concealed away as possible.

For Bucky he didn't know what to take from what she said, he figured she was right as she had never known him other than with the arm, but it was nice to hear she didn't define him by it. He also couldn't help but just watch her as she stares at the forearm piece and her delicate little fingers traced the ridges, not seeming perturbed by what it represented. He did find himself wishing for the sensation of the touch, the arm didn't have nerves but he could sense her hand by weight and obviously vision.

"You once asked me what it felt like… and I was somewhat blunt with my answer," but now while still not wanting to go into great depth, he didn't mind telling her as she seemed so comfortable around it, it offered him affluence to express his mind.

"For so long it made me powerful, it was all I knew. Now, it's an inconvenience" He reveals as Maggie raises her chin, and their eyes switched places with his now upon his arm and her hand that still lay upon it. "I don't feel much, somehow I have control over it but it's not real. But sometimes I get a twinge, a feel of chill against flesh."

Maggie's head nods slowly as she listens, watching him, "Phantom Limb. It's quite common in people who have lost limbs, even organs. It's supposed to be painful." Maggie recalls learning about it while doing her training, as well as already haven't heard of it before.

Bucky nods his head, "Men spoke of it in the war after they lost a part of them. Like their nerves don't know how to cope"

"Yeah? And… it is painful for you?" Not that she could do anything about it, nobody could, but she did want to know.

"It's not painful, but it tingles as though I've been laying on it strangely enough."

"Pins and needles?" Maggie suggests.

"Yeah, exactly like that. And I have sensation at the top of the arm where its attached." He finds her eyes, seeing the wonderment within them as she eyes his shoulder, "You want to see don't you?" Reading her mind.

"Only if you want to show me" She smiles to him, and to be honest apart of him resisted slightly but what harm could be caused? She wasn't making him, nor doing it for experimental reasons, but curiosity and he couldn't really blame her for that.

To Maggie's surprise he begins to free himself from his t-shirt and as a way to avert her wandering eyes she looks away and distracts herself with her glass of milk while he has a moment of privacy. She had already seen him, when she first bought him here but never wanted to get too close.

Bucky struggles for a moment to get the bulk of metal through the arm of the t-shirt but he finally gets there, keeping his other arm where it is and just reveals his arm, unable to stop the glimpse of his torso, but he doubt she would notice. However she does, only she is capable of controlling herself and the complex nature of what he is showing her, rids the desires to take glimpses of other parts of him. He wasn't a piece of meat and if anything she was too preoccupied by the sight of his shoulders and the risen veins in contrast to the deep valleys of scarring, the rivers of blood pulsating before her eyes while she noticed his chest almost vibrating.

His head is cast down, almost giving her a feeling that he was ashamed. And despite all she knew he was before and the ideas of what he could have done, she couldn't allow herself to be a trigger of it all. She wouldn't make him feel uncomfortable, at least not unless he deserved it and right now he didn't. Despite her fascination and her thumb gently running the length of his shoulder cap, the feel of the scar tissue against her flesh was enough for the both of them.

Leaving his body alone, she takes a hold of his t-shirt and brings it down over him, where he looks up at her, surprised to see no disgust being worn in her eyes, just the same caring nature as always as she is gentle with him.

"Your demons and your past are your own; I never want you to feel obliged to anyone again. No even me" She whispers, as he stretches his arm to place it back through the t-shirt, the dark rings under his eyes not belonging there nor the ghosts that possess is orbs.

"You should sleep. You might not like to, but you can't be awake forever. And I'm here, if that's what you're scared of – letting your guard down. It might not seem so reassuring but I wouldn't let anyone hurt you" Maggie moves a little closer, sitting on her heels making her presence known, even though it wasn't needed, Bucky was well away of her presence.

"It isn't something hurting me I'm worried about"

Maggie swallows slightly, understanding what he is getting at. For that she couldn't do much, she could try and talk him around into being positive but she couldn't control his dreams.

"Maybe… some background noise might help?" She begins to shift and turns on the TV flicking through the channels, "There has to be something on, watchable." She glances over to him but he doesn't seem too sure, but she doesn't give in. There would be something, something to distract him, something to give him something to relax to.

Bucky watches her and her need to attempt to help him, even if he told her to stop she wouldn't listen, she was one of those people who didn't like to give in, and it was something he would accept even if he still struggled to understand why.

"Oh… Pearl Harbour. I like this movie." Maggie suddenly announced, looking back to him with a smile. "You know Pearl Harbour right?"

"Of course" Bucky nodded, "I haven't seen the movie thought"

"No, of course not. Its good, well probably be inaccurate for you and depressing but… never mind I'm sure there is something else on" She goes to change the channel when the control is taken from her grasps.

"I'm sure this will be fine." Bucky encourages her, and she sighs giving in and sitting back to watch Ben Affleck be stabbed in the rear by Kate Beckinsale, humming as her body relaxes and smiles at the flirtation on the screen.

"It's kinda a love story too. But then again most movies are in some way." Maggie lowers herself back, affixing the blanket over her feet that were tucked up by Bucky's legs, glad he remained seated beside her.

The two just sat there with their attention directed at the TV as the movie played on and now and again Maggie would glance over and see that he was watching it and actually enjoying it, probably his passion for the era, and it holding similarities to what he knows. She heard him chuckling at some parts as though he recognized something or he was remembering something. She wanted to know what, but it was personal and he would share if he wanted to.

"If someone was threatening to take her away from me if I were a man, I wouldn't be too please either. She stunning" Maggie voices her thoughts as in the film the bar fight broke out between the two best friends.

"Huh?... Oh…" Bucky clicks on to what she is talking about and he wasn't so innocent.

"Oh don't pretend like you haven't noticed." She nudges him slightly with her foot.

"Okay maybe I did. But believe me nurses… very rarely were they pretty. I mean there were some…" He decides not to divulge much further.

"Oh I bet they were!" She snickers knowingly, "And I hope you don't mean present company slips into the majority category" She wasn't actually fishing for a compliment, she was simply making a joke. Okay okay, maybe somewhere a part of her that she was keeping tucked away wouldn't mind if he were to compliment.

"Oh!... No I think you'd make it into the minority" Bucky glances over to her, and couldn't help the impulse to wink, and despite her rolling of her eyes and averting them back to the movie he didn't miss her suck in her cheek as though to contain a smile.

Yes she was pretty, she was pretty fricking beautiful. But he was satisfied with just thinking it to himself.

The action and the attack on Pearl Harbour captured both of their attentions from were on and silence fell upon them. Maggie began to feel tired, while thinking perhaps this wasn't the best film for Bucky to be watching, but he didn't seem to complain.

Maggie fell asleep first after giving in the fight against her eyelids, while Bucky was too alert to the movie and his own mind. He couldn't believe how real everything looked, he remembered hearing about it way back when and everyone was devastated and angry, but it was not the subject of the film that coursed his mind, but how close to a disaster everyone had been only a small time ago. And the threats he knew everyone was under every day. Right now somewhere in the world there would be some organization out there with lust for greed and ways of destruction. And nobody knows where they would strike, how or when, even he didn't know. He was just a pawn in a game. And who knows who would get hurt next time.

He looks over to the sleeping red head and the idea that…

_No. _He refused to let him think in such a way. Because he wouldn't let it happen. He wouldn't let anyone or anything harm her. And as he fixed the blanket over her, he was frightened, but every fiber of him was alive.

***T*C***

Twitching and turning, murmurs and whimpers. Maggie wakes and sits up to find a struggling Bucky, still sat at the end of the sofa. Moving over she knows he is dreaming and sees a line of gloss down the centre of his nose and coating his top lip.

"Shh… shh" She shifts and sits by him, running her hand down his hair, the clamminess sticking to it as she weaves it through her fingers.

For a time he struggled, and she just sat there and comforted him, running her thumb back and forth his lightly stubbled jaw. She didn't know what to say, she couldn't say it would be okay, nor could she take it away.

Slowly his tussle begins to ease, his heart rate begin to slow, and his dry throat produces one word, "Maggie"

"I'm here…" Maggie moves closer, curling into his side and resting her head into the crook of his neck and caressing his opposite side of his sleeping face, "I'm right here."

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**So there you have it. Let me know what you think :)**

**They're will be a bit longer wait for the next chapter. I need to eek them out a bit so I don't get behind. Hope you understand :)**

**Danielle xx**


	11. Chapter 11 - Ups and Downs

**Hey Guys, here is Chapter Eleven.**

**Longest chapter so far, a few things happening ahead, the chapter name gives it away.**

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**Disclaimer: So I hear that Marvel owns everything, and you know, I'm just being naughty and borrowing a few things for my own personal entertainment. But if I do pose a threat (Yeah right), I wouldn't mind a particular assassin coming to punish me for being a naughty girl ;) **

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CHAPTER XI

Billy came out of his bedroom in need of using the bathroom but is disappointed in his urgency to find that it is already occupied and the shower on, so whoever was in there wasn't vacating yet. Rushing downstairs he really, really wished there was more than one bathroom, but unfortunately he had no magic skills and couldn't conjuring one up so he was left with no other option.

"Morning Maggie" He mutters to an absentminded Maggie as he passed her in the kitchen and out onto the patio. He wasn't proud but at the moment he was desperate, he freed himself from the confinements of his boxer-briefs and began to relieve himself down the drain.

"Billy!" Maggie exclaims from her place in the kitchen when she realizes just what he is doing.

_What the hell is wrong with men today?_

Billy was too wrapped up in peeing to be able to listen or respond and Maggie shook her head trying to wake herself up while she finished making Roberta's breakfast.

Moments later and he is coming into the kitchen and she is demanding he wash his hands before he touches anything else, and asking if he rinsed down.

"I know I know I'm disgusting, foul, dirty… whatever you want to call me. But I would have been ten times as bad if I'd wet myself" He finishes off washing his hands and turns to look at his busy best friend, seeing her shaking her head and a hint of pink to her cheeks.

"What has you flustered?"

"What?! I'm not flustered! Don't be silly, I'm just warm…" She tries to laugh off his remark, while being overly deflective.

Upstairs Bucky stands with neck craned down and his hair hanging in rattails by the side of his face. The cool water washing down over him, a stream down his body, while his fist grips to the ceramic tiles to encourage the control over himself and more importantly over the hard, sensitive protruding manly… feature that no matter how hard he willed would not relax.

By god he needed to relax. He needed to think of something off putting, but no matter what he did she would appear and plague his mind and he'd be right back to the beginning. He struggled with his thoughts, his hands, his body, splitting his conscience in two as he battled with feeling inappropriate and dirty against an overwhelming feeling of wanting to smile. How could he want to smile? That just annoyed him more. He knew moments like this couldn't be helped but he just wished for Maggie's sake he could have controlled himself. Okay that wasn't his only wish, he wished he could make it stop and the lustful part of him wishes he could make it stop in the way it craved.

Back to Billy, he knows something isn't quite right but the truth is he has other things on his mind. He was terrified by what today might bring and the repercussions of last night's behaviour of acting on impulse. What on earth was he thinking? Inviting her here, and so soon! He had completely lost his mind, and it was Bucky's fault.

He hadn't been able to get their little conversation clear of his mind, and the confidence it brought upon him. He'd sent the message last night, and that's when the regret kicked in, but she had replied before he could delete it and was so happy and excited. It had left him feeling excited too but with this dreaded feeling in the pit of his stomach, a churning that just wouldn't ease.

"Jesus, can nobody put anything away in this house!" He calls out, seeing the milk carton left on the side where Maggie had used it. She was now upstairs but the stress had gotten to him and he was feeling slightly irritated by the look of the house. Before he had never taken much notice but there is nothing like a girl to open your eyes, and right now they were wide open and he felt sick.

He should cancel, he had to cancel. But then the messages swam through his mind and her excitement and his longing to keep her emotions on a positive level he could not bring himself to do so. He had to man up!

Maggie sits on the stool, feeding Roberta and making light, forced conversation. She didn't feel at complete ease this morning, and she was doing her best not to think about how long Bucky had been in the bathroom, nor as to what he might be doing.

It had all been a complete mistake and her fault of course.

_Stop! Okay okay! Stopping!_

_But…_

_NO!_

She struggles for a moment; her cheeks were still the same colour as when she had realized what was going on, okay maybe they weren't but the flushness still lingered, but the light breeze from the window helped and Roberta's lack of appetite.

"Sweetheart, you need to eat for me." Blowing the spoon, it wasn't the temperature she was sure of it and she didn't seem to have a temperature herself. She just seemed overly tired today and a bit frightened.

"It's just me, it's just Maggie. I'm friends with Billy? We used to be in a band together?" She attempts to jog her memory but she shows no signs of recollection and gurgles and groans in fear.

"Whats wrong?" the voice belonging to Bucky and comes from by the door. Maggie doesn't look behind, just acknowledges him with her own vocal cords.

"She doesn't want to eat and is spooked." She reaches over to wipe up her mouth and tries again only for Roberta's head to roll around. Putting the spoon back in defeat,

"Anything I can do?"

"No, I'll try again in a minute." She picks up the bowl and closes the window, leaving her to her morning TV, side stepped around Bucky to get past and hit by freshening soap smell, with a hit of toothpaste. But her smell is the only sense she gives to him before heading downstairs. She wasn't trying to be awkward or ignore him, she just felt really hot and sticky and no not down below; she just needed some air.

Bucky however didn't take it that way, he thought she was being off with him and he didn't want that at all. Perhaps he should say something? But what would he say? I know you felt me aroused this morning? Doesn't seem like the greatest conversation starter.

Rather than her coffee this morning she went and sat out on the patio with a glass of water, while Bucky decided to give her some space, and his attention was quickly turned to an oddly tense Billy, who was swearing at the cat for getting under his feet. He could understand Maggie's moods but Billy's he could not place.

"Is everything okay?" Bucky decides to ask.

"No" Billy answers, and Bucky is surprised by his honesty, usually he insists everything is fine.

"What seems to be the problem?"

"What isn't a problem? The house is a mess, the damn cat won't leave me alone, I can't go and get a shower because Maggie will be wanting to go in to get ready for work. And I really wished I hadn't listened to you yesterday" The usually chirpy man rants as he rushes around putting dishes in the sink, picking up the cookie packets Maggie had left in the living room last night and didn't seem too happy about any of it.

"Listened to me?" Bucky was coming to the conclusion that today was going to be one of those days when he doesn't quite comprehend a lot of things.

"Yes! You! Yesterday with your '_eyes of the world_' speech, great at the time… now? I've made a huge mistake." Billy stops what he is in the process of doing, not know what it is he was supposed to be doing.

"Are you alright, Buddy?"

"No. I'm not alright" He seems to give up and sinks down into a chair, "Alice is coming around today and… well…" He doesn't even seem to have control over his speech.

"Firstly, let's take a moment, gather ourselves." Bucky starts and Billy is about to interrupt but he seizes his chance. "Then you can tell me who Alice is. And we can work from there?" He suggests.

"Alice… Alice is the girl. My girl… or I hope she will be. We're going to meet today"

"That's great!" Bucky gives him a slap on the shoulder, only a little more force behind it than anticipated by either of them but thankfully Billy managed to keep hold of his chair, but couldn't resist rubbing his arm.

Bucky jumps in immediately with an apology but Billy is already lost in his thoughts again, and Bucky decides to just leave him to it, and equally dazed Maggie returning to the kitchen.

***T*C***

Roberta hadn't eaten much again but it would be enough, but if she would continue that way she would have no other option but to have her taken into hospital and she knew how much both her and Billy hated that. But it could just be that she was having a groggy day. Perhaps there was something in the air.

But she didn't have the time to attend to everyone's moods, as she had to get to work. But on attempting to her own moods where tested when she only managed to get a few doors down, realizing her car was making an horrendous nose, and on a glimpse behind her she saw the cloud of white smoke.

_No no, this can't be happening!_

It was so bad people were even looking out their windows and even coming to their front doors to see what was happening, none of them wanting to help, just wishing to be nosy.

A series of colourful profanities were produced from her mouth as the car jutted to a stop, and on retrying the ignition she was just met with more noise and more smoke. Better still when she sniffed up she could smell burning.

_Perfect. Fucking Perfect!_

Out of the car she wanders around it, kicking the wheels in frustration, once a little too hard and of course doing more damage to her foot than anything, triggering another string of curses.

Thing is it had only been three weeks ago that she last sent her car to the mechanic, then it had been the engine and she didn't need to be any specialist to know it was probably the same thing now.

"Conning… crook… bastards! Seven hundred Dollars… for what? For what?" She fumed, hitting her wing mirror with a slap; she really needed to stop hitting things.

Bucky had been alarmed by the noise, Billy couldn't ignore it either and on looking out the window there was a fog of smoke, and through it all he saw an angry Maggie hopping around after she had kicked the wheel. He asked himself why she would do that, and came up with no answers.

"Looks like she's having car troubles" Of all the things this morning, it is this that brings Billy humour.

Quickly grabbing his jacket and cap, Bucky pulls them both on and heads for the door. He only realized after stepping outdoors that where were a few onlookers, immediately he tips his head down to hide his face, before making his way over.

"Don't give me that shit! He rebuilt my engine, and now it's as good as blown up again so if you don't put him on the phone right now I'm going to… Hello? Hello?" The retriever is dead, cue a furious Maggie.

"Woah woah woah… getting handy with your mouth and fist isn't going to help anything is it?" Bucky appears and to be honest it doesn't make her feel much better.

"No but its making me feel better!" It wasn't really, her poor big toe was throbbing, "What are you doing?" She sees him go to the hood of the car and begin to search for any lever to release and open it.

"Taking a look" Bucky explains the obvious.

"Well I figured as much but… do you know what you're doing?"

He was a guy of the thirties and forties, yes she knew there were cars but she assumed cars nowadays would be a little different and more high-tech. At least she hoped so, well perhaps not her car it was something out of the pre-historic era.

"I spent a lot of time under the hoods of automobiles growing up"

_Automobiles? Who says that? _

_Well apparently he does._

"Okay but we're not in the thirties" Again the obvious was being pointed out and Bucky's look said the same.

"Just… start the engine up. Let me see what's happening"

On his instruction she does as she is told, and while he looked at the car he wasn't something he felt completely familiar with but the basics of what he knew were there.

When she starts up the car the noise gives his ears a battering, but the sudden smoking of the engine as his banging on the side of the car, "Stop. Stop" He calls over the noise.

He stands back looking down and itching his head. When Maggie reappears her confidence in him hasn't grown any, "You have no idea what you're doing do you?"

"Just… just give me a minute" His stubborn, egotistical hand waves her off, resuming his staring of the mechanicals of the car. He was certain it was the engine and begins to unscrew the oil cap.

"Be careful that'll be… hot" She mumbles the last word realizing there was no need, he was using his bionic hand.

"What does that mean?" Maggie asks looking at the fumes coming from the oil carton thingy.

"I'm no expert…"

A sound resembling a snort.

"As I was saying… I am no expert but I think your engine has had it. You're not going anywhere in it today"

On his revelation Maggie sinks back against the car deflated showing that she had had some form of hope in him, at least he benefitted somehow.

"What time do you start work?" Bucky unhooked the hood to place it back down, wanting to form a plan for her.

"Just over an hour. Billy seemed to want me out of his hair this morning, thought I would just start my shift early" Her shoulder bounce in a shrug.

He shakes his head, "We you'll have to find another way there. He won't mind he's just stressed about…" He needed to watch his mouth, "Let's get your car back outside the house, we can't leave it here" It wasn't a busy street but a street none the less and he didn't imagine too many people would be pleased that a car was blocking the road.

She had inquired as to how they would move it if the engine was bust but it just showed up her naivety. She climbed in on his request and took off the handbrake allowing him to push the car back rather easily while she steered.

"You know you could just push me to work like this" She jokes, watching his bicep through his jacket and the enhancement of muscle.

"I could, but how much would you pay me?"

"Pay you? Excuse me… wouldn't you just do it?" She rolled her bottom lip under in a mock childlike pout.

"I've made a deal with myself that I won't be doing anyone's dirty work from now on unless they pay me"

To Maggie's surprise she could understand his reasoning, and the surprise is pleasant, even if she may have one or two things to say about it.

"Well I could have said that last night when I was putting your underwear in the wash" Her features showed humour, and it gave her a lapse in her anger, especially when she watches his mouth open and close several times as she pulls the handbreak up.

"I didn't ask you to do that" He looks at her through the car window, "I am capable of doing it myself. I don't need a hand with everything"

They both see the innuendo, but their reactions are different, Maggie pulses her lips and cocks her head, while Bucky takes the approach of rolling his eyes and walking away.

It was okay, it gave Maggie the time to get her momentary blush out of the way, and proud she had handled the moment with confidence rather than just turning into a beetroot.

Back in the house they quickly fill Billy in on what's happened and he attempts to show interest but his mind is on other things, Maggie is a little annoyed by his behaviour all morning but she hadn't the time at the moment to confront him, plus she could pump it out of Bucky because she was positive he knew something.

She tried to call and get through to the mechanic but had no luck, what a surprise there… not. The main thing on her mind was she couldn't be without a car; she relied on it not more than ever, between getting around to her apartment, here and work. She could have hired a car but she felt that a waste of money, so she had no other option to call her sister.

"Hey babe, it just me, Mags" She talks to the voicemail while giving a drinking signal to Bucky before batting her lashes, "So my car is dead, I'm going to need borrow the Audi. Just drop me a text when your home, I'll have to come by sometime after work. Hope you're okay. Bye." And she hung up.

Bucky was working on making her a coffee, and contemplating who 'babe' might be. If he recalled corrected it might be something one would call a lover of some sorts but he didn't know how he felt about that. She hadn't mentioned anything along those lines, and he wondered if he should ask.

'_Of course you can't'. _One half of his conscience, '_Why shouldn't he?_' the other half.

"I guess I'm early, it isn't that far… the walk will do me good" Maggie makes her plan aloud.

"Can't you borrow the car off your… friend earlier?" He attempts to be subtle as he pours the milk and mixes the drink, waiting with a risen brow.

"Huh? Oh no my sister's probably at work. I can get it later. It's a nice walk from here to the hospital" She rummages in the front pockets of her tunic and comes across a dollar, sliding it over to him on the countertop.

"Thank you" She steals the coffee away, making a point of paying him from his services and going to stand out back a moment while she made quick work of her coffee.

As much as he loved the life in the house, Billy was kinda hoping he'd be able to clean up by now, he only had an hour and a half before Alice was due to arrive. He was well aware it was just coffee but for him it was so much more than that. He wanted to make an effort; he wanted to impress her as much as he was capable of doing.

He needed them out of the way, and it was okay Maggie needed to be going to work soon, but then there was Bucky. He had glimpsed to the man, Alice would think all her dreams were coming true if he was to greet her, only for her to realize she was stuck with the fat hairy one. He would need to do something about that, and how he found himself taking Bucky to the side.

"I was just wondering… could you maybe… walk Maggie to work? And you know just give me a bit of time with Alice?" He didn't want his friend to feel unwanted.

"Yeah, of course. How… how long will you want?" He didn't want to pry too much, nor question the nervous guy, he needed as much encouragement as possible.

"Just a couple of hours. Will you be alright with that? I mean if you need to come back don't think you can't, I just…" Billy is rambling again but Bucky puts him at ease.

"It's fine. Honestly." He gives him a reassuring smile and he sees the hint of relaxation in his shoulders.

***T*C***

"So are you going to tell me now what has Billy so stressed and why you feeling the need to walk me to work?" Maggie barely waits until their out the door before she begins bombarding Bucky with her questions. He shouldn't have made himself so obvious with his forcefulness when announcing he would walk her to work.

"I'm not sure what you are talking about" He plays the innocent and oblivious card rather well, but not well enough for Maggie to buy it.

"Mmm, not buying it. Come on, I don't like people keeping things from me. And I have an excellent sense of smell when it comes to bullshit" She hopes to guilt trip him a little with the keeping things from her comment as they round the corner, walking in time with one another.

"Someone once told me this was a dangerous neighbourhood" Bucky looks across to her under the peak of his cap, a lop-sided grin twisting at his narrow cornered lips.

"Oh riiiiiight" She mimic's his smirk, before pushing her tongue into her cheek.

She wonders how she could get it out of him, whether she may have to result to violence, but she didn't seem convince. It could be an approach of bribery, but what would she offer him in return? No bribery had never been her forte, now… blackmail was a different story.

Well now that she could do quite easily, and she imagined it might amuse her too, watching him squirm a little.

"Okay" She amps up her speed a little, managing to hop a couple of steps in front of him before turning to face him, a light skip in her step as she remains walking, only backwards.

"So… how about we do it this way. You…" She cocks her shoulders, "tell me… and I won't question you about your little… problem this morning. Little being the operative word" She sucks and clamps her bottom lip with her teeth duplicating a look of pure innocent.

For Bucky he was momentarily staggered by her confidence and threats, and he saw she was trying to be innocent but they both know it was the devil at work here. She was playing games and Bucky wished to play them back, despite the private nature of her threat and the 'little' insult, he saw a way around this.

Accepting her invitation to battle with his first move, "Actually about that - I've wanted to apologize. I feel incredibly guilty, slightly alarmed by the 'Little' comment but we moved rather quickly when we realized, so you obviously didn't get to witness the full… effect, shall we say?"

Both having reacted in a similar way this morning when they woke next to each other. Maggie draped over Bucky, fingers in his hair, drooling down his chest and leg hooked over him, the whole position had come while she slept with no recollection of making herself mould against him so intimately, nor had he when it came to how his hand had cupped the back of her thigh, holding her where she lay.

When Maggie began to stir, she shifted and brought movement back to her limbs, and one in particular began rubbing against a particular part of him. One that had already had a natural reaction to sleep and the morning, only enticed by her leg.

When they had opened their eyes in unison, aware something was not quite right, they had looked to one another and after a few second of processing _everything,_ they became alarmed. Both stood at opposite ends of the sofa before they had chance to even blink.

This morning they had both been embarrassed and shy about the… wake up call. Now they were talking about it blatantly and bouncing off each other with confidence, and eithers reaction is just enhancing the humorous side of it all.

For the second time Bucky had an advantage over Maggie with his sense of humour, and a competitive Maggie wasn't going to give in easily.

"Really? Well if I'd have known you were 'gifted' I could have helped you out"

They continue their stroll and she steps back into place beside him, assured he couldn't come back from that, and ready to give her the score.

"Nah, I managed in the shower on my own"

_DAMN! Did he just?_

Maggie 0 – Bucky 1.

Yes it faltered Maggie's self-belief and it irritates the hell out of her, but at the same time she's stopped wondering if what he says was true or he was just playing a good game.

Looking up to him with her mouth partly open, wandering how to approach the question, Bucky can see it already in her eyes and he silently laughs to himself.

"You'll never know" He answers before she can even question him.

Bucky took his new found privacy seriously, and it would stay that way. Plus she didn't really want to know, just like he didn't want to tell.

Bucky accepted her silence as his declaration of winning, and of course he was modest about it, Maggie wasn't all too pleased but she was sure she would get him back.

"So you're still not going to tell me?" Maggie attempts the simple approach.

Bucky twists his lips as he thinks, Billy hadn't said not to. Plus there wouldn't be much she could do if he did, she was devoted to her job so she wouldn't turn back now and miss out on her shift for the sake of gate crashing Billy's meeting with his girl.

"Billy just wanted some time alone. He's pretty stressed, trying to get everything right for this afternoon, when… his lady friend comes to visit…" He finishes with a squint.

Maggie's feet stop, her mind rushing with realization that triggers her grin, "That… sneaky… not so shy… ugh! I knew there was something going on" Her happiness shows with one simple clap of her hands.

But then it is replaced with disappointment, "Why did he tell you and not me?" She begins to sulk.

Bucky just looks at her wondering if there was a medical term for the way her moods can just switch and if she has ever seen a doctor about them.

"I don't know. I'm a guy, maybe he knows I won't bombard him with a million and one questions and insist on being there when she arrives" He acted nonchalantly while he produced just the first few reasons he could think of.

"I would NOT!" She attempts, and one knowing look from Bucky sets her eyes into a rotating pattern, "Okay maybe I would be a little inquisitive." The look… "Okay a lot" She grumbles, "But whatever you think I do know when to keep my mouth shut" She waves her finger at him.

"I just, I want to make sure he's okay. That's she's right for him and… knows not to screw him over" She says simply, feeling slightly deflated in the role of friend.

"So what you're saying is, she'd walk through the door and before she can even take her coat off you'll be threatening her. Maggie I think he's capable of looking after himself. I get that you have this protectiveness over him, but he's a big guy. Let him toughen up and you know… be a man" Bucky suggests, not wanting to hurt her feelings but thinking Billy needed to do something without someone mothering him all the time. From Bucky's look on things Billy needed to step outside of that box of comfort and take risks.

"James you don't get it, we've been friends since we were kids. I've seen people shit on him and pull him down, and I've watched it eat at him piece by piece and now look where he's got himself? He's terrified of leaving the house, he has no confidence, he can't cope with being around people he doesn't know. People who mean nothing to him made him a shadow of himself and made him withdraw himself from the world. What will happen if this time when he puts himself out there it isn't just his confidence that is broken. What if it's his heart? How will he cope then?"

Bucky stops and Maggie continues to walk before he captures her elbow, needing her attention, "And what if she doesn't break his heart? Maybe this could make him or break him, but what if this is everything he needs?" Bucky cocks his head to the side, hoping he could help her realize.

"People break your heart, maybe for a while they make you feel good, make you feel safe, you can depend on them and trust them! And then when they have you where they want you… he tear it all from you, he gobble you up and spit you out like you are nothing! You were never enough, you were never going to be good enough. And your heart is broken and all you can think is… why? Why wasn't I enough? Or what had I not done to keep him happy? What could I do to make him happy again? Even makes you think you could forgive him because it might just all been your fault. Makes you Weak. Weak. Weak. Weak. Weak. Weak!"

Her arms were waving around, tempers flaring while both of them knew this had nothing to do with Billy's new girl.

Bucky moves behind her and catches her arms, gently holding them down as a few passers-by look on, but all he can focus on is calming her down and taking her pain away.

"Shhh… shhh" He hushes her smoothly,

'_Well, if you feel killing someone is necessary, I have a cheating ex who I wouldn't miss.'_

His subconscious had stored a lot of things, one of them being her voice and those words being spoken to him when he was in his comatose state. He wasn't sure how he remembered them, all he knew that he did, and they fitted into her current state.

For a moment or two she tries to weakly shrug him off and away, but her eyes close and her anger subsides to be overtaken by stupidity.

Bucky just continues with his soothing sounds as best as he could, closely feeling her begin to calm within him grasps, and while he was glad he could comfort her slightly, he had no idea what to say to her. Well he did, but he didn't think it would really help her in any way. He could question her until he was blue in the face about this particular… man. (He would use that term lightly).

"You have everything… everything to give. And you will find someone who is willing to give you everything in return. There are men capable out there… I promise you" He whispers to her and rubs her arm, hoping the glove of his hand isn't giving her any friction burn.

He slowly lets her go and takes a step back, allowing her the room to breathe. She isn't crying, she was long passed crying over the past, but it still affected her in some aspects of her life. She raises her hand to dismiss his attempts, and tried to brush off her ridiculous behaviour.

"Can we… can we forget that happened? I have no idea where it came from." She gives him a glimpse and smile that failed to reach her eyes.

"Okay. Whatever you want" And they begin to resume their walk, barely any interaction from either of them, but they were closing into their destination, plus they both had things on their mind.

Maggie felt stupid, one minute she'd been concerned for her friend and the next she had made it all about her and someone from her past. As for Bucky, he had to wonder what might have been going through the man's head at the time he decided to break Maggie's heart. He knew she wasn't without faults, and she certainly was enough to give him an headache now and again with all her different mood swings but he found that quirky, it always had him wandering what was around the corner when he was with her.

"I'm happy for Billy." Maggie breaks the silence, feeling an urgency to set the record straight. "I really am, and you're right we all have to take risks now and again. Sometimes I can't… sometimes things affect me and I'm not completely sure how to handle them. As you've probably already noticed. My doctors even tried to medicate me for it… Umm I didn't mean to sound self-involved." She knits her brow together as they reach the hospital, closing in on the entrance.

"You didn't" He bumps her very slightly with his arm, "Nor do I think medication would help."

"Excuse me?!" She wonders what he might be implying with his bluntness. She was already feeling ridiculous for her little outburst earlier, but she didn't like that he thought he crazy. Even if she was a little.

"No no…" He jumps in to his defence and to clear up, "I meant that you could do it yourself, and if not… nobody is perfect, Umm I'm not really helping here am I?"

She shrugs her shoulder, "To be honest I have no idea what you're trying to say."

"I'm saying we all have a past, we all have memories or parts of us we didn't have to live with but we do. Maybe just try and move past them and not let whatever happens consume you." He nods slowly, "You did tell me something along those lines yourself, after all" He reminded her of a conversation they had had only a couple of days ago in the park.

Swallowing and wetting her lips she casts her eyes up to him, "Thank you. And you know, I appreciate you not running a mile when I had a mini melt down. Seriously though, I don't know where that came from. I'm just being stupid." She folds her arms across her body, as he simply bows his head.

"It's forgotten" He said, recalling her earlier request.

The two part ways, Maggie isn't sure what to make of what had happened whereas Bucky, well he a few ideas. He came to understand her a little bit better even if she didn't understand herself. She was scared of getting her heartbroken, worse than that she wouldn't even risk putting it out there. Maybe Billy trapped himself in the house and cut himself off from the world, but somewhere deep with herself Maggie was doing the same, but her prison was her own mind.

***T*C***

Time passes and as Bucky wanders knowing he cannot go back to the house yet so he goes to the only other place of safety he knows. Sitting upon the rooftop, basking in the sun the empty apartment of his best friend sat behind him while he embraces some time to himself.

He'd forgotten how crazy just a normal human life could be, and how different everyone was. From here he could watch the world, everyone's mind humming with problems and insecurities. Maybe they weren't all as dramatic and surreal as his, but to each of them they were as equally as important.

He rests his head back and looks up to the skies, his mind wandering back to Maggie. He wondered where he would be right now if they hadn't have literally collided. He's have ran for a while, stuck to the shadows and probably drove himself crazy. He could have acted out of revenge and hunted down those who he had answered to for so long. He liked to think he could have killed one or two of them. But then he wondered if he would have fell weak to his mind, if it had all been too much for him to bear and fallen back into darkness just so he didn't have to contend with the guilt and everything that it brought with it.

But if he had, there was a good chance he would never have known Maggie, never met Billy nor even Roberta, and each in their own way they had become important to him, and he didn't see how without them he could have made the progress he had. He wasn't that man, Bucky, that was the life and soul of any party. But day by day he discovered new attributes to his personality that was forming whoever he was becoming. There was parts of the old him, he had noticed that familiar feeling of being cheeky and playful, he knew that he could be caring, but then there were things new to him completely. Definitely more ability to understand, for a long time he had been narrow minded, even to those who were closest to him. But now his mind was definitely open to the fact maybe anything really is possible. Maybe Maggie wouldn't mind too much if he hunted down and disembowelled her past… lover. Who was he kidding? She'd never talk to him again.

He hadn't had the chance to truly get to know people and allow himself to understand them, of course there were many of things he couldn't understand or will he ever. He realized that that was a part of today's world; people's ability to accept those around them for who they are and look past what they had done, making their judgements themselves without someone telling them it was wrong or right.

He saw men holding hands with men, women with women. Never would a men have done that in public, they would never have even admitted to themselves, never mind anyone else that they were homosexual. Something like that would have and _was _treated with disgust. If it was still the era he remembered, and two people of the same sex were to be so open, if they weren't killed first they would be arrested.

He did not understand why a man would want to be in a relationship with another man, but at the same time he didn't need to. It wasn't his life. And in his life he had done worse things that was for sure.

So many women had careers nowadays; their lives were just as important as a man's. So they should be! They even fought in wars, and not just nurses or the odd passionate women here and there who got lucky.

Then there were the cultures, and never before had he seen so many in one place, watching people of all nationality, race and colour go about their days and lives, again the same right as the next person to walk the street, go to work, earn money, have a family and life.

It was amazing that everything was so accepted. He found himself so wrapped up in the changes in the world and watching them that he had had no concept of how much time had passed, nor that the sun had already called time on the day and gone to bed. He had only really noticed due to the way the world around him slowly became quieter.

And as the world became quieter the noise that did last became amplified.

He hadn't really taken much notice to the sound of the car pulling up behind and below him, but when he hears a voice, a voice he knew so well he could not mistake anywhere, it has his undivided attention.

Standing upon his feet, turning and wandering to the edge of the roof to look down upon the street and life below.

His whole body is captivated by the sight of two people he recognized under the streetlight, Steve and the Blonde from his apartment the other night, only it was the third person to approach them that fueled his whole body with a chill of a hundred icicles stabbing him and freezing every last inch of his flesh.

And as darkness closed in upon his mind and consumed his eyes, a single name lodges itself within his throat,

"Maggie"

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**Dun Dun Dun! So Maggie is meeting up with Steve :O Or have you guy's seen another explanation?**

**So ups and downs in this chapter, like Maggie you'll never truly know how Bucky finally managed to 'relax' himself.**

**Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, things are going quite well with my rate of writing, I'm currently on chapter Eighteen and things are... developing. That's all I'm saying...**

**I'd love to hear what you guys are thinking, if you're enjoying it of course. But also... what are you hoping will happen? Where do you see things going? Let me know, I'm letting you into my mind with the story so I'd like to hear a little as to what is going on in yours.**

**Adios Amigos  
Danielle xx**


	12. Chapter 12 - She's No Normal Girl

**Hey all!**

**Chapter 12 here.**

**Hope you like :)**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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**CHAPTER XII**

"Jesus you scared me half to death!" Maggie feels relief on seeing Bucky standing by the open car door, but her heart was still wild from him startling her.

She had barely even pulled up the car outside of Billy's house when the car door had been opened, frightening the life out of her so much she nearly screamed.

"What's the urgency? Might start thinking you miss me" She chuckles, not really minding if he did.

She leans over to get her bag from the passenger seat and then begins to climb out, noticing he just stands there unspoken, unmoved, anything showing signs of life.

"Everything okay? I know I wasn't supposed to come by tonight but I just want to check on…" The air is knocked out of her when she had barely the chance to remove herself from the car properly when she is being pushed back flat against the rear door, and a loud threatening crashing of a fist pounding the top of the car, arms caging her in against it.

Caught up within the whole madness she contemplated whether she had fallen back by herself and he was attempting to save her from falling over completely and hurting herself, that would have made more sense to her than what was really happening.

But those hopes were shattered when her eyes manage to focus, but she did not like what they focused upon.

She had seen these eyes before, and she recalled how they brought her trepidation and caused her to shrink back against the car looking for safety.

"J-"

"I'm going to give you one chance. And I mean… _one…_chance for everything you have done for me, but after that I will not be… responsible for my action. Now tell me… who are you?"

She begins to shake and she doesn't know if it's the dropping temperatures in the air or him. She could not tear her eyes away from whatever was possessing Bucky's body. She could not come to grips with what was happening, she could not find Bucky within his voice, or the man she knew and had come to trust within his eyes. She couldn't understand why he was acting this way, or saying what he was.

"I don't…" Her breathing is hitching in bewilderment and fear, "James, it's me. It's just me Maggie. What's wrong? T-tell me what's…" She had attempted to raise her hands to touch his face in order to try and help him see through whatever darkness that was claiming him right now.

There is another smash against the roof of the car, and this time she flinches, but not before she is being grabbed by the jaw and being made to look at him.

This time while there is anger, there is also sadness, and regret. And she begins to think the moment has passed and that he was returning to his usual self and then they can work out what has just happened. Make sure he is okay, and yes maybe she might yell at him a little for scaring her but it would be all okay, and she wouldn't be in fear of him anymore.

He brings his head down to rest upon hers, their noses brushing together, and for a moment she lets herself be soothed, and he finds himself wishing he hadn't seen what he saw, that he could forget about it and let things return to the way they were. But he couldn't, because it was all a lie. Every last promise she made, every word she spoke to him was just feeding him what they thought he needed to hear.

"I… I opened myself up… to you. I let myself… be… safe with you. I thought you were trying to help me. You made me feel… alive again but it was all an act and lie wasn't it?" He whispers through gritted teeth, "Wasn't it?!" This time is a hiss and some of the moisture from his gums escape his mouth to coat hers.

"No!" She cries. "No! I swear, I swear I don't know what you think you know, or what is going on. But I promise…"

"NO!" He tears himself away from her, turning his back and crawling at his own hair as a way to stop his fists, even now he could not bring himself to hurt her.

"I saw you!" He pivots around before Maggie can even take a breath and the devil has returned to his eyes. "I saw you with them. With Steve! With the Blonde!" He jogs her memory, and her sudden wide eyes of understanding leaves no room for her to deny it.

"Oh my god! This is about that?!" Suddenly her fear is being replaced, but only with another negative emotion, anger.

Taking a moment to think this over, yes there was an angle that might seem as being too coincidental because she may have thought it herself about thirty minutes ago, but she hadn't acted like a stark raving lunatic or hurt anyone, put fear within someone's heart like he had to her.

"What's wrong? What do you want me to give you more time so you can come up with a convincing story?" bites Bucky.

"No" She goes for her bag and he watches her carefully awaiting for her to pull out a gun or something along the lines of a weapon, but the only thing she pushes into his chest was a photograph from a sleeve of her wallet, her eyes resilient to the anger, but there is a film of tenuous wetness too.

Bucky tears his eyes away from her to pull at the photo at his chest, he didn't know what to imagine and thought it was best for his anger not to before he saw for himself. However he wasn't expecting an explanation to come from a… family photograph?

Bringing it closer the first person he recognized of the four people was the grinning Red head who stood within the arms of an older man and women, and from the closer inspection she realized the older woman had a similar wave of the same colour hair and they wore the same smile, and he knew straight away it was her Mother.

To her left the man, assuming he was her father held another female in his arms other than Maggie, this time the girl was taller, more confident in her stance and… blonde.

"You know her don't you? Yes well I do too…" She tears the photo from him, feeling a surge of protectiveness over something so small but so precious to her. "She's my sister"

And Maggie's mind drifted back to only half an hour ago, when she too was faced with a pretty big shock.

_The cab pulls up outside of the familiar apartment building and she pushes a Twenty dollar bill at the cab driver, thanking him through the passenger window._

"_Kate?" She calls out, surprised to see her sister was already awaiting her and she wasn't alone._

_Kate's eyes are wide, with her arms filled with a box from the trunk of the car her sister needed to borrow, while her companion had jumped to the rescue to help her with the other._

"_You can just put them inside of the door" She rushes to tell Steve, in order for him to leave before Maggie could reach them and be faced with one of the most famous men on the planet, and no doubt squeal like a little girl._

_But it was all too late, as her eyes close tightly and her sisters voice right behind her._

_Maggie shakes away the idea her sister is ignoring her by simple approaching and poking her shoulder, "Oi madam that's no way to greet your sist…. Woah… way-oh!" _

_Her eyes had only takes a seconds glimpse to the taller, much manlier figure, and for a second his facial hair had given him a split second of camouflage before she realized just who was beneath the beard, her eyes snapping back instantly to find she was in fact correct._

_Her mouth opens several times as she tries to produce some form of noise from her lips, but her mouth is bone dry as she realized this wasn't just 'Captain America', this was… oh dear this could be incredibly awkward and she realized she needed to be careful about everything she said._

"_Maggie. Maggie!" _

_Kate's disgruntled demands for attention were finally responded too when Maggie realized she'd been staring for far too long and Captain America before her was looking quite amused._

"_I guess the beard isn't a very good disgust after all." He begins to chortle, and Maggie attempts to smile but it looked more like she was auditioning for a role in Dracula. That would have seemed more realistic to the young nurse._

"_You must be Maggie. I'm Steve" He juggles the box to fit under one arm so he can extend his hand out to her, and she stares at it for a moment, Bucky flooding her mind, and scared somehow that if he touches her he will be able to read her mind. Things like that were possible, but in this situation she thought she would be okay._

"_We've… actually met once before" She smiles lightly, not expecting him to remember._

_She withdraws her hand and looks to her unusually nervous sister, "Steve's just helping me carry the boxes up from the car"_

"_Oh really? So you're a freelance removal guy in between all this hero work?" _

_Yes her sister was an Agent but for him to be here just to help carry a few boxes wasn't too convincing, perhaps they were at work but it also seemed odd for Kate to bring her work home with her. She hadn't mentioned that she was on first name terms with Captain America himself. However Maggie hadn't told her sister about her own superhuman friend she was becoming incredibly close with. Maybe sometimes a little too close._

_Bringing herself back to the present company Steve seems to find her joke rather funny, and feeling a need to explain himself, "No actually I was just passing. I live in the apartment next door to Kate… Sharon." He corrects himself, thinking it wiser to refer to the blonde haired woman by her professional name rather than her personal name._

"_Wow…" Maggie looks to her sister, finding it a surprise that she was so good at this secret keeping. She was always useless at it when they were kids, but she'd redeemed herself now that was for sure._

_Hold up a minute! He lived next door? But Kate had gotten all flushed that night at… NO WAY!_

_Maggie's eyes snapped between them, Kate's orbs were full of knowing what her sister was thinking while Mr Rogers himself was clueless. _

_Wide eyed Maggie drops them to the ground wondering how all this could be real. Her sister was hording herself Captain America while she was hording his best friend. Suddenly she wondered if it would be safe, she trusted her sister… completely, and Kate seemed to trust Cap… Steve. The two were obviously quite close despite their awkward dances around one another. But the situation with Bucky wasn't all about her trust, it was his. And if he trusted his long-lost friend he would be with him now, not back at Billy's. And if she were to tell him, she would break whatever trust she had earned from him. And there was the thought that everything might be okay and that every morning and evening when she called around to take care of Roberta he wouldn't be there. He'd be gone, swept back into the madness of that world, where nothing felt safe, and the chance he could run into trouble, lose himself within some darkness and the man she knew would be lost. She realized quite quickly she couldn't let that happen._

_So selfishly she kept her mouth shut, and focused on the face there was a chance her sister was romantically involved with Captain America, and if not already, Maggie knew for sure she wanted to be. She felt scared for her sister._

Back to the present she stood before the man she had wished to protect and lied to her sister about daily, all because she had a feeling about him. That he wasn't the monster they all thought him to be, and because she had seen him for who she thought he really was. But she cannot lie that right now she is in fear of him. But the only way for her to cope with that fear is to translate it into anger.

Turning and pulling the car door open she begins to climb in. "Get in!" She instructs him, not wanting to hear any arguments from him.

For Bucky despite his confusion for her request he is obliged to her. His instinct tells him he shouldn't, but reality of needing to find out what she was about to prove was too much for him not to follow.

The wheels carries them through the night streets, a few people of the night beginning to come out to play throughout the more 'known' areas. Bucky watches the gauge and the speed limits, understanding she was going faster than the streets indicated she should. There could be plenty of reasons; she was in a rush to get wherever she was taking him, she was a maniac behind the wheel anyway, she had run him over once before, after all. But then it could be from her anger, anger makes people act irrationally. But whatever her reason Bucky wasn't going to find out because he wasn't going to ask.

For all he knew she could be taking him to the middle of nowhere, dump him and tell him to rot in hell. Or she could be giving him and handing him over. But they were far past Steve's apartment now, so he would just have to wait. Prepare for anything.

She can feel his eyes on her constantly, she wants to tell him to stop, either that or tell him to get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness for his stupidity. But neither was said or done, they just drove, nothing but the hum of the engine to keep the world from being silent to them.

Half an hour later and there journey was coming to an end as the car slows to a stop by the edge of an ordinary sidewalk on an ordinary street and to Bucky nothing seemed out of place or familiar. It was just a quiet neighbourhood, rows of farmhouses with the typical front porches, the big family gardens and at the centre of the community was an old but maintained church.

As they get out of the car and Bucky just follows her, his eyes scan the streets, but all that holds her attention is the chapel.

"We're going to church?" He speaks for the first time since outside of Billy's house, but he doesn't gain any response, instead she bypasses the arched entrance and headed for a much smaller, less inviting gate just off to the left.

Maggie predicted the lack of lighting and pulls out her cell phone from her pocket, and turning on the Flash-light. Her hand clasps the rusted gate, which squealed in protest as she pushes against its resistance.

Once up a few rickety old brick steps she raises her phone to illuminate parts of the old spine tingling graveyard, and despite her anger at him she was glad she wasn't here alone. But if it wasn't for him she wouldn't be here at all.

She tried to recall her way around in the dark, making sure to stick to the small gravel path, and slowly with each step the grass in the surrounding areas stood a little shorter. The tree's a little youngers, and the gravestones and memorials that little bit fresher.

She looked for the tree in her memory, there were many of them, but this one you could not miss place, even with only a small amount of artificial light.

The tree stood proud and majestic, but as through it had a crocked spine, leaving its branches to grow sideways inside of upwards, and it called to her, luring her in to its obscurity, and for a moment she forgot about the man lurking slowly behind her. Her feet just carrying her closer and closer to the tree, but she does not reach it, for what she was truly looking for was mere meters from the wooden shadow caster.

Standing by the foot of the grave, she looks over the to her companion who loitered a few feet away,

"You wanted to know who I really am?" Her eyes cast away to Bucky to the white marble stone, and all that Bucky could do was follow her gaze and transfix it upon the highlighted memorial.

Upon the top was a delicately carved Rose, its three dimensional engraving, finished with a perfectly designed and crafted hand, holding it by the stem.

As his eyes drifted down he begins to absorb the words that were in-scripted;

_Here lies resting  
__**Michael Edward Flynn**__  
1915 – 1998  
Loving Father, Grandfather and Husband._

At first he thought perhaps this was her parent's grave, knowing they were dead, as the name meant nothing to him, apart from the latter to which he knew also belonged to Maggie, but the script had not yet finished;

_With  
__**Margaret Carter Flynn  
'Peggy'  
**_1919 – 2014

"Peggy!" He speaks in disbelief, stepping that little bit closer as an old imagine of an independent, fiery woman who had once, for the first time in his life, made him feel like he was invisible.

But she wasn't only just that woman, a woman who he watched his best friend pine over, who gave orders rather than took them. She was…

"I believe you knew my Grandmother." Maggie's voice is carried over the breeze rustling the tree's, eyes trained upon the headstone as she recalled childhood memories of bedtime stories full of the heroes of her time in the war.

"I always thought she was a fantasist growing up and hearing her stories of Captain America and the team of people that followed him, how they saved the world from monster's. And they would scare me, but for my sister, a little older and with more imagination she loved them. All I ever wanted was to go to sleep with stories of Princesses and Prince's riding off into the sunset, but Kate wanted Captain America, Dum-Dum Dugan, Gabriel Jones all the other Howling Commandos, and of course… James 'Bucky' Barnes" She waves her hand to him, even though it was not needed.

"I was too young to understand, all I heard were guns, fighting and monsters. My sister used to say that if I didn't believe in superheroes the monsters under my bed would come and eat me."

"She sound… lovely" Bucky achieves sarcasms.

"She wasn't great. Stuck a pin through my little finger-nail once, nearly came out the other side." Maggie rabbits on about unimportant memories, of her childhood.

"Childish rivalry. I was the youngest; I was given the name of her idol, our Nana. And for a time she childishly resented me for it, but now we can look back and laugh about it. She's my sister, and she's the only family I have left in the world.

"But I can't help that her childhood fascination turned into so much more that she became an Agent. I can't help that my Nana was one and was part of the team that founded SHIELD. I couldn't help that Steve was there tonight, and what it might have looked like to you. And I am telling you the truth when I say I have only ever met him once before, when he visited my Nana before she died. As for my sister I play no part in her career and I know it might seem sceptical to you but I'm only trying to help you. Okay we haven't really achieved anything, and yes maybe tonight when I was with them I contemplated saying something, but I didn't because for some screwed up reason my loyalty to you is all I feel is important" Maggie becomes increasingly expressive with her arms and the passion in her voice escalates.

"I promised my sister once that I would never lie to her again, that I would never keep anything from her. But I am breaking that promise for you!" Her finger pokes at his chest, several times, and it was only internally that it bruised.

He could see her chest vibrating, the mixture of emotions in her eyes, a very faint dark shadow on her jaw, and while it might be unnoticeable for anyone else, for him it was blinking at him like a lighthouse while trapped in mist at sea, only it wasn't a saving grace, it was disgraceful.

"Then…" He begins knowing what he has to do, "I have to go. I'm breaking the trust between you and your sister. I put my _hands_ on you and I—"

_SLAP!_

Bucky's hair falls into his face and eyes as his words are stolen from him. His head is inclined towards his left shoulder, rolling his jaw as he overcomes the shock of her abrupt moment of violence that left him stunned for a moment or two as she comes closer,

"And now I put my hands on you!" Her olive eyes are crazed with authority. "Maybe you need to stop feeling so sorry for yourself and grow a pair of balls while you're at it." She takes him jaw within her hand, as he had done previously in the night.

"You hurt me. Not with your hands but with your obvious lack of trust. Do you not get it? Do you not see that whatever we have done has already been done? That whether you leave now, a week from now or yesterday we are involved" She snaps her hand away, and drags it through her frizzing hair, "You don't think we know that one day there could be a knock at the door and it could be someone from S.H.I.E.L.D or worse - those who did this to you? We are taking risks for you, and I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, but to make you realize we're in this together!"

Maggie finally takes a breath. Her violence had not only been from payback or demonstration, it was also to try and help her knock the thought of him leaving out of that soft head of his.

"If you know the dangers, why? I don't understand?" Why was this physically fragile girl so willing to put her in danger?

"There are so many things in the world we will never understand, but I know that I have had many second chances in my life from people who care about me enough to allow me them, and when its dark and you need help, its sometimes better to have those who care by your side rather than being alone. Because forgiving someone can be the hardest thing you ever have to do, and if they are cap able of that, they're capable of anything."

Maggie doesn't wait for a response, for another of his questions she is getting tired of answering, she says her silent goodbyes to her grandparents and walks off, leaving him to stew in her words, and by god she hoped he followed and had done enough to change his mind. She might be angry with him, he might have hurt and scared her, but none were as bad as the thought of him leaving her… them.

Maggie sits in the car, waiting for him to return, or failure to do so. She would not beg for him to stay, she wanted him to come back to her because he wanted to, not because he felt guilt tripped into doing so.

Bucky stays by the gravestone, everywhere he looked was a way out. Before, the darkness had crept over him so suddenly, refusing to see any other explanation for what he had seen. He had thought the worse, and believed the world was against him. But now more than ever he realized that not the whole world was against him. And those exits to run were pulling at the weakness within him, its eagerness to return to the shadows and hide away from the world.

But as he casts his eyes back to the white marble, it wasn't any name or inscription that lured him in, but a small black book that lay tucked down the right and side. If he didn't have enhanced eyesight he never would have seen it, but he did and so he stepped forth and crouched down taking the leather bound notebook in hand.

He could feel the fusty dampness sticking to his fingers, but apart from the wrinkled edges of the pages, they were dry and readable.

Upon the first read a list of names and objects he could not decipher;

_I love Lucy  
Moon Landing  
Berlin Wall  
Steve Jobs  
Disco  
Thai Food  
__Star Wars__ / Trek  
Nirvana  
Rocky  
Troubleman  
_

But it is the last two scribbles that catch his attention most, for personal reasons as well as them having been written in pen.

_Bring Back Bucky  
Take Peggy Dancing…_

And on the neck page sat a sketch of a detailed man and a woman with a small caption saying 'One Day'. He does not stare long, as it is not for him to look at. He understood completely what it was, a to-do list, and his name being upon it was all he needed as an answer to the owner. Steve.

His friend was determined to bring him back, but with Steve there was no telling what lengths he would go to. And for now, Bucky just wasn't quite ready to completely be that man he used to know.

Letting his hands linger upon the notepad for a moment longer, before returning it to its rightful place.

"One day, my friend. But today" he whispers.

Maggie pulls down the sun visor, to tear her eyes away from the clock and its taunting of her as minutes grew on. She did not like what she saw in the mirror, redness beginning to form on her pale translucent flesh that encircled her eyes, her negativity driving her emotions to the surface when with every second she fears he isn't returning.

But it is the startling alarm that pours relief into her gut and questionable warmth in her heart as from nowhere the passenger door opens and in slides and squeezes her rational friend.

"So I guess you're stuck with me a little while longer, Maggie" He loungers back into the car seat, while Maggie takes a smiling moment to hide her face and wipe her eyes, and swallowed back the moisture within her mouth.

"Then I guess you really are a masochist, Bucky" She speaks, having already contained her smile.

And on the sound of his nickname coming from her mouth was one to lure his attention to her, "You called me Bucky", he states the obvious, but is too surprised not to mention it.

"Yes well, I'm still mad at you after all" Maggie answers while placing the keys within the ignition.

He was convinced she was, and he was particular glad she was, because ultimately it meant she wasn't a push over and added to her strengths, but he still can't neglect to see a glow of contentment about her that takes an edge of his awkwardness.

"Don't normal people usually address the person they are mad at with their formal name, not their nicknames?"

With a simple utter she explains it all, "But I'm not normal"

_No, no she isn't._

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**Oooo, so there you have it! Yes, Kate is Sharon Carter and also Maggie's sister and the two of them are the granddaughters of Peggy. I do like adding little twists here and there...**

**So I want to clear something up, the angst between them, it doesn't always last as long as either expect. I am not rushing them making up, nor them trusting each other and blah blah, sometimes in life no matter what type of person you are there is someone you just can't dislike and stay mad at. The two of them have both had reasons to be angry at the world, perhaps Bucky more so.**

**So yeah, anyway, please let me hear what you think :D **

**Danielle xx**


	13. Chapter 13 - Voices Within

**Hello my lovelies!**

**Thank you to everyone who is reviewing, I absolutely love hearing your comments, it definitely gives me an extra confidence to write more and in turn get the chapters to you quicker :)**

**Enjoy x**

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**Alice - Evanna Lynch**

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**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I own nothing, I simple play and bend Bucky to my will for my own entertainment :P**

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CHAPTER XIII

After that night Bucky didn't know whether they had moved forward or backwards, to him Maggie was an enigma, and he knew she wanted it to be that way, because whenever he felt he was scratching at the surface a wall came flying back up. He also came to the conclusion that it wasn't just him she was like it with. But this time it was that little bit thicker, and he thought he understood those reasons.

Things weren't the same, yes she would come by first thing in a morning to take care of Roberta, and she would accept and drink his coffee before heading off to work. Yes they would speak but it lacked the personal touches, the laughter, the cheeky comments here and there as they usually would bicker and banter.

They would mean it when they asked how the other was, and both struggle with not saying anything else, when Maggie stuck to her tenacious ways. Bucky didn't like it, but appreciated it at the same time. He didn't like that he had caused it, and that she barely allowed herself a moment to look at him, but she was proving that she wasn't naive in just jumping back into trusting him. It permitted him to find comfort in knowing she wasn't a push over and didn't instantly act forgiving for his sake, while holding her annoyance within. He knew where he stood, he knew he's done wrong and he also knew she didn't pity him.

Billy and Maggie would converse as normal, Bucky would join in the conversation now and again to put forth his opinions, or to ask a simple question but most of the time he would just watch them or spend time in the basement working up a sweat.

Maggie had confronted Billy at the first chance she had gotten about his long awaited meet with his lady friend, and it seemed Billy was blooming into a new man. Apparently meeting a girl for coffee could do that to you, but it was three days past from that night at the cemetery when there is a knock at the door and Billy comes running down the stairs, knees almost hitting his chin.

"She's here. Alice!" He begins to panic as he had only just woken up, and Bucky felt quite alarmed too, not sure what to do or where to go.

"I'll go to the basement" He announces, making a quick beeline.

"No!" Billy cries out. "I have to get myself cleared up. And you just keep her occupied for Ten minutes?"

"Me?!" Bucky explains, what is he supposed to do? He was supposed to be hiding out, not entertaining guests.

"Yeah. You'll be fine. Please?" He's already half way back up the stairs, hanging over the banister when there came another knock at the door, this time a little louder.

Bucky let out an exasperated sigh and nods him off, "Go"

Pulling on his jacket and scrapping his hair back in a band, taking a few moments to lurk by the door unsure of how to answer. Maybe he should just open the door and tuck himself behind it.

_This is not Dracula. Just try opening the door and smiling._

He needed to get a grip, glancing back around the room making sure there was nothing incriminating he pulls the band aid off and opens the door having no expectations on what to find.

Before him stood a girl, similar height to Maggie, with blonde hair that almost reached her hips, woven with a few braids and… feathers? But the main thing to hit him was her big bulging blue eyes that were lit up in cheer.

She was a tiny little thing, but had a beaming bright infectious smile; "Hi" came a foreign twang he deciphered as Irish, "Billy here?" She folds her arms and let her long straw-like fingers lace together.

"Yes of course, come in." He steps back immediately to allow her entry and closes the door quickly behind her. "I think he's just… in the shower. Don't think he'll be long." He smiles lightly to her and silently signals for her to make herself at home in the living room.

"Thanks. I'm a little early. Oh and I'm Alice by the way" She turns again and unhooks her fingers from one another so she could offer her hand to him in formal greeting.

Bucky accepts, "I've heard a lot about you Alice. I'm James" He answers without thinking twice.

"Nice to meet you James, Billy has mentioned you too, I'm assuming you're his friend staying with him for a little while?" She asks for clarification.

"You'd be right" Bucky nods, and allows his shoulders to relax slightly and frees her hand terrified he might break her. "Uh… make yourself comfortable. Would you like a drink? Coffee?" He offers, putting his hospitality skills to the test.

"Oh no I'm fine." She waves her hand slightly and sits down, glancing over to the stairs, "Actually I might have a glass of water."

Bucky nods his head, he thought Maggie was tiny but in comparison to this girl, he was scared one harsh look at Alice would break her; she was definitely thin, so thin he almost wanted to offer her something to eat.

He leaves her to make herself at home while he wanders to the kitchen to get her some water. And it's hardly something he can prolong. So he does the simple task of retrieving a glass from the cupboard and one of the many bottles of water from the fridge, since Billy had insisted on throwing out the usual mounts of soda can's it usually stored.

"Thank you" Her angelic intonation, is voiced from her cheery lips, "So how do you know Billy? If you don't mind me asking?" Alice's politeness is as apparent as her innocent energies.

"Uh…" He didn't mind, he just wasn't sure where to start. He just allowed himself to say what came naturally, "Through Maggie, I suppose. I needed a place to stay so she br… she thought of Billy. He's been really good, good guy to be around"

"He is isn't he?" She grins, "And Maggie sounds lovely too. I'm looking forward to meeting her but well… a little scared too. I have no idea what to expect."

"Oh she can be… abrupt might be a word for it, when she wants to be but it's all just coming from a good place." Bucky believes Maggie might intimidate the hell out of the sweet little thing, "If need be… stand your ground."

He would give himself the advice but he had much more to lose, i.e. his genitals mainly.

"Okay, well I'll try. I'm sure she is lovely really, Billy has told me about her." She finishes her comments with a sip of water, "So are you and Maggie…" She swops her middle and index finger over.

Bucky ducks his head forward in an act of surprise, "Me and Mag… Oh… no. No. no. no. no. no." He shakes his head lightly but attempts to make it clear, "No" He adds just for final clarification.

"Oh right, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry" Her eyes slip to his left where there was a strange glove upon his hand, and he notices and tucks it away.

"Oh not at…"

The sound of Billy upon the landing and descending the stairs has him stopping as Alice seemed more than preoccupied his arrival too, as she stands, places her water upon the coffee table and turns to meet a cleaned up Billy, who seems to have given his beard a trim and found a skirt.

"Hello" He steps forward towards Alice and embraces her hand, "You look lovely" He hesitates before finding the courage to lean in and give her a kiss to the cheek, being as Bucky was still in the room.

Their first meeting couldn't have gone any better. Yes there was nervousness between them to begin with, and Billy had been paranoid and self-conscious but she made sure to address that issue first and foremost, putting him at ease and confidence with a sweet caring nature, knowing that a lie could not pass such wonderful lips. He was hooked, for long time they had spoken, they would not go a day without speaking even if it was just a hello and to wish each other a good day, but a lot of the time they would speak for hours about everything and anything. So they had known a lot about each other already, but thankfully for both of them they weren't short of anything to chat about.

The time had flown for them and it had been as though they had known each other in a face to face relationship for years, and despite their apparent variations in looks, it was their personalities that formed the common ground between them, and kept them talking for hours.

It had been everything Billy had hoped for and on their reluctant decision to put their first meeting to a close they had shared a small, tender kiss that Billy proudly initiated, before they had arranged to see each other again and soon. And how it came to be that just three days later she was here and this time it wasn't just the two of them.

"I should give you guys some space" Bucky stands, and nods to Billy.

"You don't have to go out of the way."

Billy might thrive for time alone with Alice but he didn't want to push his friend away, plus despite everything he wanted Alice to feel as comfortable as she possible could with his friends and family.

"Mmm actually I have a little something for your mother. Would it be okay for us to go and see her?" Alice fumbles with her fingers nervously however comes across as poised in asking.

Billy seems more than happy, while Bucky excuses himself again and making his way to the basement and shutting the door behind him before moving down the small wooden staircase to where any bed or straps had been replaced with items much more comforting to him. He had a little of his own space down here, even if it was only little and Billy still had the far wall covered with his high tech machinery.

Pulling off the jacket, he feels more comfortable now he is alone and allowed to wander around with the arm on show as he wears a black vest. Now knowing the basics on how to work an iPod and docking station, and ever learning and recognizing songs, musician and lyrics without having to look at the screen, the music can begin to fill the void of silence.

Coating his flesh covered fist in a leather fingerless glove he approaches the makeshift punch bag. He'd created it out of an old large duffel bag, and rolled up and crammed it tight and solid with the futon mattress he had no need for since he didn't sleep or at least he never planned let it consume him.

It didn't put up much restraint to him, the average bag wouldn't but it worked in giving him something physical to do, which helped clear his mind and release some of the testosterone that pulsed ferociously through his veins.

Only his mind wasn't too clear, and of everything he could think of. The situation, the trouble, his guilt and darkness, his anger, none of it, instead a simple question asked by a completely oblivious sweet girl he had only just met.

_How ridiculous to think such a thing._

Punch!

_To even ask?_

Punch!

_What would give her that impression?_

Stroke!

_She's only just met me._

Thump!

_She hasn't even met Maggie!_

Oomph!

_She's never seen us together._

Pummel!

_Had Billy said something?_

Strike!

_What had he seen if he had?_

Hit!

_Had she given any notion that she might feel something romantic?_

Whack!

_Had I?_

Wallop!

_Do I?_

Smack!

_Of course not!_

Thwack!

_Yes you do, stop being a fool!_

Belt!

_I am NOT a fool!_

Bash!

_Then admit it!_

Bang!

_No!_

Woosh!

_Why?! She's a beautiful girl, you've already admitted that. She sees you for who you are. She makes you smile, you make her smile!_

"Not recently"

_And it bothers you doesn't it?_

"Of course it bothers me. Doesn't mean I wanna wake up with her again"

_Oh but you do, pal. You were even dreaming of her, remember? Her mouth on yours, those legs wrapped around you. And then you wake up and she's draped over you._

Blow!

_You can feel it now can't you? _

"I haven't been close to a woman in years, it's just… a natural reaction."

_But you don't just want to be close with her sexually._

Pause.

"I want to protect her"

Whack!

_Protect her from what? _

"Stupid question"

_Okay okay. But I was meaning more the threat of... oh lets say... other men?_

Halt!

_Ahh, now that gets your attention doesn't it? You already contemplated killing the guy that betrayed her. What about the next man? Plenty of them out there ready and willing to worship at her feet._

"Stop"

_That gets to you, doesn't it? The thought of another man close to her._

"Stop"

_His eyes on her._

"Stop"

_Her eyes on him._

"Stop"

_Making her smile, laugh._

"Stop!"

_Holding her, touching her._

Jaw clenched!

"Stop!"

_Kissing her_.

Fist clenched.

"Stop!"

Veins bursting.

_Him waking up beside her._

"STOP!"

POW!

Crack!

Creak!

Crumble!

The ceiling can't take it anymore and a mist of crumbled plaster coats his hair and upper body as his chest vibrate.

_My work here is done. _His conscience decides to leave him in peace.

***T*C***

Maggie could hear the wailing child behind the curtain, and she slips herself in seeing the hurt and upset little boy clutching at his mother as he complained his leg hurt, and on greeting the mother and taking a quick glance over the chart he is suffering from a possible sprain and an abrasion to the knee.

"Hi Jacob. I'm Maggie I'm a nurse and going to make your leg all better for you okay? But to do so I'm going to need you to sit up on this big bed for me. Can you do that?" Everyone, including Maggie had a specific tone in their voice for when they were talking to children.

He seems to resist and just clings to his mother more, which isn't unusual for a child and they can be a little more difficult but having a parent there usually helps them do as is needed of them.

"Your mommy can sit up here too, with you." Maggie smiles and encourages the mother to try and move him which wasn't much trouble being as he was only six.

It seemed to work knowing that he had his mother beside him, and she is comforting him by stroking his hair.

"So I hear you fell out of a tree" Maggie comments, seeing the report that was filled out on their arrival.

He sniffles slightly and lifts his head and she gets to see his face for the first time and he had a draw on mustache above his top lip.

"I went overboard" He whimpers and Maggie fights the urge to roll her lips at his adorability, coming to the conclusion he was supposed to be a pirate, his mom trying to remove the pen with a bit of spit and her thumb.

"Mommy can I have my sweeties now?" He seems to forget about the majority of his pain at the thought of candy.

"Once you've let the nurse do her job okay?" She kisses his forehead and agrees allowing Maggie to move a little closer.

Maggie and the mother kept the little boy occupied with chit chat while Maggie examines him, cleaning up his wound to his knee and thankfully it wasn't very deep and nothing a couple of butterfly stitches wouldn't fix.

He complains a little now and again, especially when it came to his ankle. Maggie couldn't feel anything broken; there was no bruising and only a small amount of swelling. X-ray wouldn't be needed, but he had himself a sprain.

"Okay so… no broken bones" Maggie declares; the mother seems relieved however the little boy seems disappointed.

"I wanted a cast" He moans, and his mother rolls her eyes while Maggie gives a little giggle.

"Well I don't know about a cast, but I think I could do you a splint. Get it strapped up for you?" She was going to anyway, but is surprised he seems so eager.

"Yeeeah!"

And so Maggie moved around collecting the appropriate items from the drawers and set to bracing up his little ankle while he watches on in amazement, and after some advice to the mother and him all fixed up he can go home, and saying how he couldn't wait to show his older sister.

MIU – Minor Injury unit was always less stressful that the Emergency room but things are much quicker and easier to get through.

Maggie isn't too surprised to see her next patient who is always wandering into MIU with something or other, an elderly gentleman too stubborn to realize he isn't a string chicken and needed to be a little more careful on his feet these days. Also she had found out that after his wife died a couple of years ago he was rather lonely and enjoyed the fuss of the young nurses.

"Hi Ralph, what have you done this time?" She playfully tut-tutters as she draws the curtain back.

*T*C*

"So this is where you've been hiding" A familiar, manly voice approaches Maggie from behind while she is busy in the dispensary, working on meds. A couple of hours had passed and she only had an hour left until her shift had finished, over all it had been a steady flowing day.

"Oh… hi" Maggie looks over her shoulder to see Dwayne, having not encountered him in a few days. Yes she had received his text messages, but hadn't had the time to respond.

"I thought you were avoiding me. I never heard back so…" He screws up his mouth as he leans on the counter beside her, arms folded obviously hoping for an explanation.

"Ahh, sorry about that. Thing have been p-retty hectic. So no, I haven't been avoiding you" She smiles lightly, glancing from him to her chart.

"Okay, so I'll let you off this once." He winks, "So how about we arrange now?"

Truth is she hadn't even thought about it, from one thing to the next the last thing her mind had time for was some Romeo who was intent on taking her on a date. Yes she thought him attractive and had enjoyed the banter they had over coffee, she also liked that he wanted to take her out but she was no longer swept up in the dreamland anymore. Reality proved she had more important things to be doing, more important people to be around. However she had no intentions of putting it that bluntly to him.

Sighing slightly, she doesn't even get the chance to speak first.

"Uh-oh, sighing. That's never good" He sucks his teeth and Maggie squints one eye slightly.

"It's not that. It's just… uh, everything is a little hectic for me at the moment. Don't get me wrong the attention and thought that you wanna take me out is lovely, and maybe I'm an idiot to turn your offer down but I'm sure you'll manage to find someone to replace me. I'm really shit company anyway. My personality… uuuck!" She jokingly sticks her tongue out in mock disgust.

"Well I wasn't after your personality, to be honest" He nudges her and she opens her mouth to look at him with amused wide eyes. She didn't find herself insulted, oh she was sure in some way he meant it, but his charm was too good to be mad with him.

"Well then, I made a good escape."

"Depends which way you look at it" He is now smirking and she openly rolls her eyes.

"I have work to do. And I'm sure you do too" She loads the meds onto the cart, ready to set on her journey.

"Yeah. But you know… keep me in mind. You have my number if you change your mind"

Oh she did, and she was thankful for the offer, even if she didn't come to accept it.

***T*C***

Bucky decided that since a workout didn't help clear his mind a shower might. However it didn't help as much as he had liked but some of his muscles were loosened and the plaster was free of his hair and body.

Bucky wandered the quiet hallways, pulling on his jacket and taking a glimpse into Roberta's room on hearing a light jingling.

Roberta sits in her usual spot by the window, and he notices something new about the room, a small wind chime hanging from the curtain pole, and he assumed that would have been Alice's gift because he may have only just met her but it seemed like something she would buy.

"We haven't read in while" He comments as he moved closer to the helpless old woman, noticing her eyes were closed. Realizing she was sleeping he didn't want to interrupt her, instead takes a look out the window at the overcast sky, Summer being lazy with its job for today.

However something else draws his attention on the street below, and his brow arches heavenward. Half way down the street there was a man and a woman, holding hands and walking leisurely. It wasn't just anyone, it was Billy and Alice. He had actually left the house, he had no idea where he was going but he didn't care, she had been in his life all of five minutes and she had him stepping outside the house.

_Amazing what a woman can do to you._

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**Oh Oh Oh... Bucky isn't able to deny things any longer. Now there is just Maggie to work on...**

**Hope you enjoyed it, I'm not too well at the moment. Blasted Summer head cold, which isn't appreciative of me staring at a screen for a long period of time, so please bare with me.**

**I hope you like Alice, sometimes she might be a little too inquisitive, but adorable in the process.**

**Anyway, see you all soon. Please feel free to leave me a review :)**

**Danielle xx**


	14. Chapter 14 - Alice!

**Hey y'all!**

**So every review brings a smile to my face, thank you :) But I want to say a particular thank you to my last two reviews as your lovely words made me giddy, and why I'm posting a little sooner than I expected.**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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CHAPTER XIV

Billy and Alice's return had given the house back its musical clatter of life after just over half an hour of silence and strangely enough Bucky was appreciative of their return and it was a gleeful one at that. Billy was slightly red faced from the fresh hair, Alice was hooking onto his arm happily laughing at whatever they were finding funny.

They had taken a walk to the store because they thought Alice should stay for dinner and hopefully meet Maggie, and while deciding this Alice decided she wanted to be the one to cook the dinner, and had needed to go and get some ingredients.

"It's nothing fancy; I thought since I didn't know what everyone liked I'd stayed with the safe option of Spaghetti Bolognese. Is that okay with you James?" Alice asks, worried things might not go as well as she'd hoped.

"Yeah of course" He nods, unsure of what to do with himself now, so slips into the living room.

"What about Maggie? Will she like it?" Alice whittles, and Billy manages to do a good job of easing her worries.

"I'm just going to check on Ma" Bucky hears the sound of a kiss from in the kitchen and a sweet giggle before Billy entered the living room and Bucky can't help but raise a brow to his transforming friend.

"Dude!" Billy mouths and puts his thumbs up, "She's amazing!" He adds, again silently.

Bucky laughs and watches his friend head up the stairs. Billy had always been a jolly, accepting character despite his issues but he was beginning to blossom.

Feeling dryness in his throat, Bucky heads for the kitchen where the small framed blonde is emptying a few bags and organizing the items quite meticulously upon the counter.

"Can I just get a glass?" Bucky asks as she is standing in the way of him of the cupboard.

"Oh of course" She immediately moved out of his way, "I'm sorry if I'm getting under your feet"

Bucky shakes his head, how could she be under his feet? She had more right to be here than he did, "Of course not. Don't worry about me, just do whatever you need to do"

"Oh good. So maybe… now I can have that coffee?" She asks

At first Bucky isn't sure of what she is talking about but, gathers she wants coffee and being as she was cooking him dinner he could make her coffee.

"Sure. How do you like it?" He finishes off getting himself a drink of water first before he sets to making her a milky sweet coffee.

Neither of them have much co-ordination around the kitchen, knowing where nothing is so they rummage to find the pans and other equipment she requires for dinner, and she starts to get a little flustered when she finds what she needs but in the top cupboard where she struggles to reach.

"Oh here" Bucky jumps in, seeing her struggling and the pans about to fall upon her.

"Oh thank you. I never understand why people put things so high up. Maybe it's just because I'm short and extremely particular" She hums as she steps out of his way and points him where to place the pans, and then goes on to find some wooden spoons.

"That's why it's handy to have a man on hand to be your lapdog" He winks and she giggles some more, and Bucky was glad for the chance to be a little more playful than he had allowed himself to be over the last couple of days.

However it was cut short for him by a gruff clearing of ones throat and he needed not to see that person to know who it was, and feel the tenseness return to his shoulders.

Maggie had been standing there for a few moments, arms folded watching on confused and deep down she felt a hint of irritation. Neither of them had heard her come in or her approach, they seemed to be a little preoccupied with each other.

_Would the hell was she?_

_Why is there a woman even here?_

_Why is he so comfortable around her?_

"Anyone wanna tell me what's going on here?" She steps forward, only seeing the back of the blonde's head but Bucky was now facing her with a slight grimace on his face that made her taper her eyes.

"Oh my…" Maggie has to peel her eyes from Bucky to look to his… cooking partner apparently and well, she is quite surprised by the look of the girl. She was quite young, okay maybe a couple of years younger than Maggie. Her features were quite prominent and she wore a wild tooth grin.

"You must be Maggie" The strange girl is moving towards her and she isn't sure what to expect, she just takes a further few moments to take her in. She's wearing a plain orange dress that could be dressed up and down, braids and feathers woven in her hair and held an air of quirky Hippie-ness about her. She hadn't quite been what Maggie was expecting when she turned around; she was imagining some tart, when there was nothing about the aura of this girl that screamed that.

"I'm Alice. Billy's uh… friend" She suddenly became quite quiet before extending her hand to the red head.

Her words suddenly sink into Maggie's conscience and her green eyes widen, losing all the resentment and harshness; for a moment glimpsing over to Bucky who was watching on, and then back to her.

"Alice? Alice! Oh wow! Umm… I'm sorry I thought…"

_You really going to voice what you were thinking?_

"I was surprised. I didn't know you would be here" Maggie grows a smile and drops her arms so she could take her hand, and she does so with a much more friendly and enthusiastic approach.

"I think Billy forgot I was coming today too" Her melodic laugh and voice is as quirky as her.

"You're Irish!"

There is a snicker from Bucky, which is caught and stopped as soon as he begins when Maggie shoots him a look of warning. However he still chuckles to himself silently as he moved to the kettle that had boiled.

"Very much so. But anyway, it's really lovely to meet you. Oh… sod it!" Alice drops a hold of her hand and throws her arms around Maggie instead.

"Oh… wow" Maggie lets her arms hang for an uncooperative second before she realizes; one: she will look like a bitch if she doesn't, two: the girl might not let her go until she does. So with lose but friendly arms she wraps them around her and pats her back.

"It's lovely to meet you too" And as they broke apart, a much more genuine and softer smile appears on Maggie's face. "I must warn you…I have so many questions to ask you"

"Oh, I don't mind. I have a few of my own I'd like to ask. Maybe over dinner? Billy said you don't mind Spaghetti Bolognese?"

"Oh I love it" She answers with a gracious smile.

"Oh good… uh… I'm just going to find Billy and tell him you're here" She as good as skips off and Maggie can only watch after her for a moment until she disappears up the stairs.

"Well…" She murmurs, unsure of what else to say.

She blows out her cheeks and roams over to Bucky who is making a drink, while she pokes around the systemized arrangement of ingredients on the counter, and just happens to glance at the coffee Bucky was stirring.

"You don't usually make it so milky" She just happens to comment.

"It's for Alice" He deadpans returning the milk to the fridge.

"Oh…" Pinching her brow together and looking away.

_So he's making her coffee now?_

_Oh Maggie, grow up!_

"She seems to be making herself at home." She reaches over to retrieve her own cup he had designated as being hers. It was the tallest, obviously making for the longer drink and higher boost.

"You almost sound disappointed by that" He takes the cup from her, leaving her with a puzzled expression.

"No! Of course not, I'm just… surprised. She isn't what I expected, in a good kind of way… hopefully" She watches him concentrate upon the mug and preparing it with Coffee and then sugar.

"So that's your secret, you put a little bit of sugar in. I always wondered why I could never make it like you do" She grips the edge of the counter and rolls back and forth on her feet, looking to him, and despite standing right next to him there is a distance between them.

There had been from that night, but he would still look at her from time to time. What was different now?

Bucky doesn't understand the soft sweet tone to her voice, her shy movements from the corner of his eye. She's usually so abrupt and confident in stance, that he isn't sure what to make of it. He was sure however that she was making more of an effort to speak to him than she had in days, and he appreciated that.

"Just a little. You always seem to want a boost in a morning and you never complained so…" He shrugs and begins to fill the cup with water.

"I never complain anyway" There is only one reason why she says it and it turns out it worked.

"Pffft. Yeah right" He sniggers, and finishes with the milk.

Having waited long enough she takes the drink, greedily nursing it in her hands as though her most prized possession.

"So… have you been okay today? You know coping with Alice's appearance?" She looks at him over the mug before resuming her blowing.

"She didn't fall in from the roof darlin', I am capable of managing some social situations"

_Darlin'? Never called me that before. I suppose I don't mind._

Let's face it she didn't mind at all, only she isn't going to even admit that completely to herself right now.

"I know Mr. Sarcastic, I'm usually okay with social situations but you saw how I reacted" She hums into her mug, finally able to take a sip without scolding the tip of her tongue, and of course she enjoyed it. She always did.

He snorts down his noise, triggering a pull at her eyebrow, "Reacted?" He _finally _turns in her direction to look at her, "You were glaring at her so hard I thought you were going to burn holes in the back of her head. If looks could kill, sweet thing would be done for" A lop-sided twist of his mouth proves he finds it amusing.

"Well I just wasn't expecting to find some… woman in here. Especially you making her feel so…" She struggles to find a word, feeling a rare need to choose her words carefully, "Welcome" she decides to go for that because his expression was waiting.

"So…" He knits his brows together, "You'd expect me to be a dick?"

She groans, "No!" She didn't know what to expect, now that she knew it was Alice, Maggie was glad that he wasn't scaring her off, but before… she didn't know it was her, it could have been anyone and there he was smiling at her, helping her and just being… nice.

"Do we always have to be so argumentative?" Her shoulders rise and fall in another sigh.

"Well you know… despite everything you could just try… cheering up a little." He spoke frankly, expecting her to argue and prove herself to be the quarrelsome one.

Dropping a spoon in and out of her coffee, she feels her obstinacy dispel. She knew he wasn't speaking with himself in mind, but for the sake of Billy and his… Alice, perhaps he was right. It was a passing moment when she didn't know who Alice was, but now she did and she'd looked forward to meeting her. She didn't quite understand this threat she felt, attempting to assure herself it didn't even exist.

Alice seemed lovely, and while Maggie isn't easily trusting, first impressions say that she didn't have anything to be concerned over with the Hippie blonde, and that if Maggie allowed herself they actually could be good friend.

"Fine. I'll cheer up. This better" Maggie's face is suddenly over took and morphed into all teeth and gums, squinted eyes and Bucky had never noticed her mouth was so big that the first time in a few days a conversation between them actually resulted in humour.

"Jesus! Her name might be Alice, but you don't need to become the Cheshire Cat, darlin'" His laughter ripples and tickles down his nose.

While Maggie made a mental note of the second 'darlin' in a matter of moments, but distracted by his hands as they begin poking and taunting her lips, a hint of rosiness beginning to shine while she relaxes her cheek muscles under, just standing there with a quirked brow while she allows him to make her smile, feeling that familiar warmth of her urge to smile take over her features.

"You're strange you know that?" She speaks through her smile.

"Aye, maybe. But it worked" He makes his point and leaves her standing there with the show of delight and she probably should have been wondering where it came from because she had had no little prep-talk with herself about how she was going to start behaving as thought she had forgiven and forgotten the other night and now they could just resume their childish antics and teasing. Nor had she walked in the door feeling any differently, and it wasn't as though she was too happy on seeing him, watching the two of them move and work together as if they were two old friends having banter, him pulling the lapdog comment.

And Maggie wouldn't think about it too much because if she thought about it she would be left with nothing but the brutal truth, and everything else that comes with facing Jealousy.

Right now it was much easier for mischievousness to take a hold of the atmosphere around her and for her fingers to gather up the fabric lying upon the countertop and with his oblivious back facing her she begins twirling it, and suckling her bottom lip into her mouth as she admires the back of him, as well as contemplating which part will be her target. There was his back, for some reason she skipped that thought, she's seen a couple of scars and wasn't going to bring upon his anything that resembled whipping. Then there were his firm tight buttocks…

_Maggie just gets to the part of choosing._

So the legs got her vote or more so she twists the cloth and whipped it out and hoped for the best, watching it connect with the back of his thighs and his head pop up.

Stepping back, instead of hiding the evidence, she brings the dish towel up over her head to wear as a head scarf, batting her lashes innocently with her head on a tilt, greeting him when he turns.

Bucky leans back against the sink, arms folding across his chest and his tongue running slowly across his left top set of molars, nothing but silence as Maggie eyes him carefully ready to embrace and fend off whatever attack he springs on her.

In defence she drops the towel back by her side, coiling it, while attempting to be discreet and he doesn't look. He had no need to.

The clock on the wall is ticking, and she counts each second it announces and once she get to ten she leaps and strikes out again.

Bucky has seen the rigidness and courage build up within her, alerting him she was ready to pounce. She jumps forward the towel slicing through the air and reflex kick in and within the wink of an eye, with precision he swings out his arm, feeling and clasping the material, twisting is fist around it and gives it a tug.

"No!" Maggie squeals as he determinedly reels her in, and she puts up her best tug-of-war fight but he's too strong.

"Can't give my thigh a rub this time" He leers and goads her.

_That's it Maggie, do something flirtatious, provocative. Flash him your Ta-Ta's._

She wasn't willing to go _that_ far, ah, but he didn't know that, "Drop it, or I will flash you, Sergeant, don't think I won't!"

"How on earth is that supposed to deter me?" He laughs and to prove his point grips a little harder and tugs her that little bit closer.

_Okay Maggie, should have thought that through. What's Plan B?_

Plan B, Plan B, we she is stumped for a moment, that familiar look of constipation upon her face. She could just let go, however if she did that at this moment she would no doubt fall back and probably crack her head open. Thinking about it, she realized if he let go the same would happen. Nah he wouldn't let that happen.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry." She stands up straight and just holds onto it, "Can you let it go so I can dry the dishes?" She attempts.

"Of course… I would, but there are no dishes to dry. I thought you'd be much better than this. I thought you were a woman who gets what she wants?"

They were both as equally guilty of being stubborn, competitive and mainly childish.

"You know there is one easy way of getting what you want right now" Bucky informs her.

"I'm not showing you my Ta-Ta's"

"Pardon?" He has an inkling to what she is referring too.

"Ta-Ta's, Boobs, Breasts, Bosom's. Whatever it is you call them. It isn't happening, you big… Tree!" She tries giving it a jerk but gets nowhere, not missing the weak stab at insulting him, so weak she had to steal it from Friends.

"Tree?" He rolls his head back, hair hanging down his back as an almighty laugh rumbles from his chest and ricochets off each wall and surface. Low and behold Maggie drops the towel; accidently of course, she was just taken aback.

She'd heard him chuckle, snigger, even laugh… but the humour he was oozing right now was overwhelm. It was a full on belly laugh, a roar that had his whole body in a fit, only this was for all the right reasons. She watched him put his hand to his side, knowing the guffaw had reached his ribs, as he brings his head down to look at her and shake it, his cackle begins to be overtaken with coughing as it claims all his air and dries his throat.

Maggie can't help laughing either, not at herself but at him, whatever giving him the attack becoming contagious. She made a mental note not to ever allow him to watch Friends for the sake of killing him with laughter.

Apparently they had an audience for a little while, Alice and Billy having come down, the two of them exchanging looks before Alice looks on back to them wearing a wonderful smile at the playful two, wondering what they were enjoying.

However, for Billy he is beginning to wonder what the hell was going on between these two. He was getting whiplash. One minute they are getting up to childish antics and laughing, making jokes, the next minute they are barely talking or looking at each other. He'd always known Maggie's mood swings were unpredictable but he is not coming to wonder if Bucky had the same issue. He wouldn't be surprised being as he had been torn between being two people. But he wondered how well they would work together, whether their similarities might help them, or break them.

"They have a love/hate relationship" Billy whispers in Alice's ear, noting Maggie snapping her head up, never failing to hear a thing. He did not comment any further. He meant it.

"Most relationships are. Everyone has their bad times, but if it weren't for those bad times you wouldn't appreciate the good times and see how secret they really are" Alice doesn't whisper, she thinks aloud, unaware of the affect her spoken thought have upon the two conflicting 'friends'.

Both Maggie and Bucky's mind in similar places as they glance to one another catching each other's eye, realizing that the hippie Irish girl had just opened a door for them, both of them suddenly considering that not only were the good times between them good and heart-warming, but yes, yes they were special.

Their honesty cannot last for long though, as they look away from each other in unison.

"Well I better make dinner" Alice claps her hands, snapping everyone back into reality with her cheer.

"Yeah, I better get Roberta her dinner. Can I help you afterwards, Alice?" Maggie speaks first, really wanting the chance to get to know the girl better, and also maybe she felt slightly useless if she knew Alice was in here slaving over a hot oven while she was just hanging around just watching while she did nothing.

"I'd really like that, Maggie." Her smile glows, spreading its infection to Maggie.

***T*C***

So not too long after when Maggie had finished up with Roberta she carries out her plan to help with Dinner, Billy had taken her place by Roberta's side, reading to her. And Bucky, well if her ears served her right, which they usually do, he was in the basement the door open slightly but not feeling conscious of finally having the opportunity to have a real chat with the new girl in all their lives.

"So where do you want me?" Maggie rolls up her sleeves and washes her hands.

"I got you all set out here, chopping the veg if you like?" Alice replaces, tapping her designated board that was neatly waiting for her with everything Maggie would need.

"Yeah of course." Drying her hands on the memorable hand towel, before taking up her place beside her.

"Oh are you making garlic bread?" Maggie comments, seeing Alice spreading homemade garlic butter upon some French bread, seeming confident with what she was doing.

"Oh yes. I can't have Italian food without it. And Billy says he is a big fan"

"So you like to cook then?" Maggie begins her inquiry.

Alice nods her head, "I love it. I find it therapeutic. Plus my great grandmother was Italian, and obviously my grandmother half so I was always told you aren't a real woman unless you can cook. The saying 'Food is the way to a man's heart' was basically pushed down my throat as a child."

Maggie chuckles light, "Wow, so Irish and Italian heritage. I bet your Christmases were entertaining" Maggie had heard that the stereotype of Irish and Italian people not getting along. However she didn't quite imagine Alice came from a Martin Scorsese movie about the Mafia and Irish mob.

"Oh they were! My great-grandmother loved Ireland, and her husband, but she never admitted either apparently." Her laughter is tuneful, "You wouldn't think I had Italian in me, would you?"

Maggie could only be truthful when taking in the girl's complexion, "I can't say I would. But apparently I had a great-great grandfather that was Indian… so…" Pointing out her own fair complexion and the two share their amusement and learn of something they may have in common.

A few moments later, Maggie strikes with her next questions, "So how come you live over here now? Your accent is still quite strong, have you not been here for long?"

"About seven years. Yeah I was fifteen. My accent used to be much broader apparently, my first day of high school people actually thought the English I was speaking was Gaelic. Even my teachers were refusing me the chance to answer questions for fear of misunderstanding me. But they got used to it.

"As for moving here, it was typical really, my pops got a job and the opportunity was too good to pass up, we were all actually looking forward to a fresh start."

Maggie understood her perfectly, something her 'th's' were just 't's' but she found herself loving that. She had one of those voices, soft and charismatic that you believe you could listen forever and not get bored. She was sure Billy felt the same way too. Hey, maybe even Bucky…

Alice has questions for Maggie too, and it became less of a grilling and more of simply getting to know one another and the path you take to becoming friends.

It turns out she is actually working on a Ph.D. in psychology as she wanted to help people who have been in positions like her. She opens up quite easily about her past with eating disorders but there is no search for pity, only a strong head on her shoulder, expressing her reasons for her career choices. She explained how she loved people, even if they didn't always love her back, to which Maggie couldn't help but try and reassure her she was sure that wasn't true.

She divulged into her interests, how her real passion was for Photography but love for that made her thrive for the opportunities to captures moments on a personal level and why she had never taken it up as a career choice. Also, and more surprisingly for a person doing a Ph.D. she reveals that she loves to read Tarot Cards and carried them with her everywhere.

"W…wow! That's unusual. How come you… came across that… talent?" Maggie strains her lip; unsure of how to approach it as Maggie hadn't really ever paid much belief in people who claim to have foresight into the dead.

"Oh we're all capable of it; we just have to believe in what you're looking for and open yourself up to really… see and acknowledge your intuition" Alice explains, proving she was quirkier by the minute.

"So you see… ghosts?"

"Noooo… that isn't what reading cards is about. It's all about the person who deals the cards, their aura and how it translates upon the cards. I could do a reading for you sometime, if you like?"

Maggie was taken off guard and looks up with a painted smile, "Oh yeah… that would be interesting" She was definitely guilty of humouring the girl, but what harm would it do?

"Great! Well after dinner then" Alice pushes her eagerness upon Maggie, "Don't tell me anything else. See what I can pick up"

"Oh…Okay" Maggie hadn't quite expected for her to say today, she thought she was obviously offering but would forget - there was still the chance.

While Alice fried off the Onions and then added garlic, Maggie finished deseeding a red bell pepper and put the attention back onto Alice, asking after the story of how she and Billy came to be, and she is so very earnest and she notes the smile she wears particularly when Billy is being spoken or thought of.

She was easily becoming the loveliest person she had ever met and she had only known her just over an hour, and Maggie grew a conscience.

"I'm really sorry about when I arrived earlier. I was behaving like… well I wasn't exactly behaving welcoming." Maggie doesn't apologize too often, only when she believes the person really deserves it.

"Oh that's fine, Maggie. Don't worry about it; I would have been the same if I found some woman I didn't know laughing and joking with Billy. Well I would have felt jealous…"

"Really? Well I suppose that's different, you and Billy are together after all. While James and I… are definitely not. And I wasn't… jealous." Maggie rolls her lips inwards into her mouth and scoops up the pepper to place it into the pan.

"Yeah, he was defensive too when I implied the two of you having a romantic connection." Alice goes to the sink to wash her hands for the third time since beginning the dinner.

Opening her mouth to ask what Alice meant by he was defensive, but closed her mouth coping with silently asking herself as she pushes at the browning meat.

"It isn't about being romantic, yes maybe there is a bit of a connection, but it's nothing more than friendship and wanting the best for him. He's been through a lot and… I wanna help him" She didn't mind admitting that, it was true. Maybe not the complete story but it was true.

"I can help him" She speaks more to herself than anything.

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**Ahhh, Maggie is jealous! I would be too.**

**Hope you enjoyed, drop us a review if you did :)**

**See you soon with Chapter 15.**

**Danielle xx**


	15. Chapter 15 - Written In The Stars

**Hi guys, here is chapter fifteen.**

**Enjoy :)**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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**CHAPTER XV**

"Mmm, this is delicious" Billy twirls the spaghetti around his fork while the four friends sit around the table finally getting the chance to tuck into their meals. It seemed to be greatly appreciated by all, none of them had been great cooks and even thought it was only spaghetti Bolognese it was probably the best they had ever tasted. Billy needed no reason to be biased.

"Thank you. Well Maggie did half of the work too" Alice reminded them.

"Oh no, please. Keep all the praise for yourself, Hon, all I did was chop up some veg" Maggie bats down Alice's attempts while she pinches some cheese from the big bowl of it in the middle of the table and sprinkles it upon her dinner.

Billy jumps in with an anecdote to prove Maggie's lack of culinary skills from way back when they were at school together.

"Oh come on I was what? Fourteen?!" Maggie tries to play down.

"No you were sixteen and for our home ec assignment we had to bake a cake or something, Maggie here firstly…" He holds up his finger, having paused his dinner, "put it under the grill. Then when she realized she corrected the mistake and thought she was saved, but like Maggie she got distracted and forgot all about it. Also not knowing that cake tins have bases but she couldn't find one and deciding that the way to go was to stand the tin on a plastic plate."

"I didn't know it was plastic!" Maggie insists through her amusement while everyone was in a chorus of their own.

"It had a sticker on the bottom saying please do not use this for cooking."

"I didn't see. If it was so important put it on the top of the damn plate." She snickers into her glass of wine.

"Anyway, the whole of that portion of school had to be evacuated for the smoke and smell. It never did smell the same again after that."

"Okay okay… it was terrible. They actually want to suspend me for it; apparently I was a danger magnet. A week or so before I had nearly set the science labs on fire with a Bunsen Burner." She plays it off with a wave of her nonchalant hand.

"Jesus. And we've been stuck in the house with you all this time" Bucky comments from across the table, smirking with a splash of sauce on his chin and for that remark Maggie wasn't going to tell him either.

"Hey, you can't comment you were in the army having your meals cooked for you, you just had to make sure your boots were shiny and learn to shoot straight." She jokes.

"Oh yeah because being in a war was a walk in the park compared to high school, apparently" His sarcasm it met with another smirk as he lounges back on the dining room table.

"You were in the army? You went to war? Where were you?" Alice looks over in intrigue to the long haired male.

"Iraq-"

"Afghanistan-" Both Maggie and Billy speak together in an attempt at helping Bucky out, but don't make things much better.

"Uh… well both, you did a tour in both right, James?" Maggie looks over to him, having answered for him.

"Yeah… I went to both those places." He had actually spent a small amount of time in Iraq, on a mission to take out some army Major. But he wasn't going to bring that up at the dinner table.

"What is it like? If you don't mind me asking. You always hear stories of what happens out there I imagine it's very different than movies and TV makes it out to be"

Bucky finishes off the half glass of wine and nods, "A lot different."

"Sweetheart, maybe war isn't the best conversation to have over dinner" Billy reaches out and places his hand upon Alice's.

"Of course not. Sorry I just want to get to know you all, I've been really excited about it and sometimes I don't always think before I speak." Her apology is quickly accepted by all three of them who tell her it was fine in unison.

"I'm the same. I haven't stopped asking you questions since you have arrived. So I'm guilty of the same thing" Maggie offers her new friend a smile across the table, "Maybe it's a girl thing."

Despite her family Maggie had never really gotten along as well with women, they were always more judgemental and it was easier for her to get along with guys, but Alice was very different, she might be judgemental for her own reasons, but never had she seem it pass her eyes since she meeting her.

"No… interrogation is just a Maggie thing." Billy jokes and Maggie gives him a nudge for it.

"She has every right to. It shows that she cares and looks after you" Alice compliments the girl with the red hair and sides with her. "With you two knowing each other for a long time, it would only seem natural to feel protective. I'm sure you would be the same, Billy"

"Oh he has been" Maggie leans into her friend who sits beside her and opposite Alice. "Wouldn't have known what to do without him."

"Well your past choices in men haven't been… great" Billy comments, even though he knew she meant more than just men.

Bucky sits back in the shadows observing and listening, watching Maggie's finger travel around the rim of her glass of water that say beside her glass of wine. There is a very dull and faint buzzing noise coming from the glass from the effects of her finger.

"No, I guess not. Why I'm contemplating becoming a Lesbian." Maggie kids with a ring of a giggle. "Nah, I've grown up now. Got past that rock star 'bad boy' madness a girl falls for at some time in their lives. It's far easier being single. Plus you get a double bed to yourself." Maybe plays it off with a laugh and lets it die quite quickly to run her tongue along her back teeth, noticing the noise she was making with her fingers and stopping abruptly.

Single life wasn't so bad, it was nice and had its advantages, plus she was so busy with everything important in her life that men didn't crop up in her mind often. Only sometimes when she sees loved up couples, so happy it is nearly disgusting. Or maybe sometimes in bed when she is a little cold and needs a cuddle. When she's had a long day at work for someone to be there when she got back, waiting for her with a smile have her a drink ready and maybe even made a start on dinner. Someone she could talk to, and not like you do with your friends, but be secure enough to open up and say what you're thinking because you know they are there because they just like you for who you are, else they would have gotten bored and moved on. Or someone who wasn't frightened by her mood swings. And yes… someone there to help out with those sexual urges you get from time to time.

So yes maybe she would like something for herself, or someone she could rely on and have rely on her. Her was a smart girl but had a guarded heart, maybe if it weren't for that she might have noticed that a good few of the qualities she had listed were possessed by someone she was already quite close with.

"Didn't you date the guy from your band?" Alice doesn't really register if questions are inappropriate or not all the time.

Maggie makes fish lips with the wine swimming in her mouth, as Billy beside her coughed and she caught him shaking his head over to Alice.

Maggie shakes it off, he is always trying to protect her and refusing bringing up the past but it was just that to Maggie – the past. Yes she had gotten upset the other day speaking of it, but this was completely different. Then it crept upon her, and momentarily consumed her, where this and the decisions to speak were under her own control.

"It's fine Billy. I'm kinda wondering how you know, but yeah for a while. Always a terrible idea to get involved with someone you work with, not that it was 'work', we did college campus gigs now and again."

"Oh uh… when Billy and I started talking he mentioned he loved music and was even in a band at some point. As nosy as I am I snooped his name on facebook and found your band official pages which then lead me to find all your video's and profiles on youtube. I became a stalker basically…" She blushes slightly. "Why I felt like I knew you already, especially from your personal video's, you are such an amazing singer" Alice gushes.

Now it is Maggie's turn to blush, and opposite her Bucky sits up in his chair to lean forward. He had been dealing with _having _to process the conversation of men in Maggie's past and watching her reactions from mentions of her apparent relationship with a band member, wondering if it was him who she spoke of the other day. But then when Alice is calling her an amazing singer, he's drawn into knowing all about that.

"I'm okay. I like it… but this one here is the musician" She juts her thumb towards Billy.

"Oh don't be silly. Yes Billy is amazing too, but you should give yourself the same credit. Have you any plans to get back into doing gigs? Because you know 'Groupie'" she holds her hand up and the three of them laugh, which Bucky is too busy soaking in the information.

"Nah… we mess around from time to time" Maggie looks to Billy, "When I started work officially it kinda took up our time. I forgot all about the video's on youtube. I bet they are so embarrassing now." Maggie means forward to full her mouth with her food, catching the tearaway escaping pasta.

"What do you sing?" Bucky blurts, and maybe directs his question towards Maggie more than Billy.

Covering her mouth as she chews and looks up to him, shrugging a shoulder, allowing herself to rid her mouth of any food, and rinsing it down with water to be safe, "Anything we like really. Anyway… I'm not Lady Gaga so let's move the subject off me shall we"

"Oh so you can quiz everyone else but you can't take it back?" The man opposite Maggie points out as he tears his teeth into some garlic bread, bouncing his brow.

Maggie has no control over her reaction to roll her eyes, "No. Why? You wanna ask something? Wanna get something off your chest?" She flicks a stray lock of hair over her shoulder.

He mulls over his bread and then shakes my head, "Not right now" She watches him clear his teeth with his tongue behind closed lips.

Before she could even question him, he is looking to Alice beside him and smiles, "Dinner was lovely. Best meal I've had in a long time."

Alice of course beams like a child on Christmas morning, "Oh you're more than welcome, James."

_Why is she addressing him as James?_

_Because it's his name, perhaps? You call him that too, Maggie. Or is that the problem?_

Ignores.

Billy stands up with his plate, "Right then ladies… you two are going to sit down. Bucky, help me out with the dishes?"

Bucky accepts, and helps collecting the plates from the table, noticing the distance in Maggie's eyes as he picks up her plate. He does hope that old wounds weren't open again, he didn't want to see her upset.

"I'm sorry for prying before" Alice leans over to whisper to Maggie while the men did their chore.

Maggie hands over her attention happily to Alice, and shakes her head reassuringly, "Don't be silly. It's fine. Let's get from under their feet." The legs of Maggie's chair shrieks across the floor as she comes to a stand and Alice follows suit.

Taking their drinks with them as they pass through to the living room and get themselves comfortable, Maggie taking up the armchair with her feet tucked under her and glass of water on her knee.

In the kitchen Bucky and Billy get in each other's way, but Billy decided to be designated pot washer while Bucky handles drying and putting the items back where they belonged.

"So what do you think?" Billy finally finding chance to get the thoughts off one half of his friends.

"I think she's a great girl. And you're glad you asked her around aren't you?" Bucky waits, leaning against the worktop with a t-towel ready.

"Yeah! I should have done it a lot time ago. But you know… my head wouldn't have been in the same place"

"And now? Where is it now?"

"It's… between thinking I'm the luckiest guy in the world, being pessimistic and wondering if she is suddenly going to open her eyes and think 'what the hell am I doing here? Run Run!'" He still has his obvious insecurities and they aren't going to disappear overnight, but he is working on them.

"I think her eyes are wide open, Buddy. You'll get there. I meant you went out today, I'm assuming that's a pretty big step" Bucky turns to take the first of the clean plates and begins to wipe it dry.

"Yeah… but I still got a bit embarrassed, I could feel myself getting out of breath. Then I'm trying to stop myself from breathing so I don't breathe too loudly that she hears. I know this sounds all pathetic when I say this to you, but it's important to me."

"Exactly why it's not pathetic. But if you are that conscious, all you can do to stop it is work at erasing the problem. You beat yourself up enough, so I know you hate how you look. Do something about it" Bucky's advice was rather straight forward to him, but for Billy it wasn't that way at all.

"You make it sound so easy"

"Well it could be if you let it. I mean how many hours a day do you spend criticizing yourself and worrying about your image?" Bucky asks, knowing where he is going with this.

Billy Snorts, "When am I not! It's always there niggling at me" He hands over another plate.

"Exactly, so you spend hours sitting there thinking about it, hating it, instead you could replace some of that time, even if half an hour or an hour in the basement exercising. You aren't going to be thin overnight, but least when you beat yourself up about it you and think… 'wait… well I'm doing something', I can even give you a kick up the ass if you need it I could sure do with something to do to clear my own mind, if I'm honest"

Billy stops what he is doing to look up to Bucky, appreciating his offer and advice, taking it on board, "You know you speak a lot of truth, dude. And sense" He looks back to the bowl he was supposed to be cleaning, "An hour a day?"

"Uh-huh, and I won't let you slack." He threatens.

"It's going to be like a boot camp isn't it?" there is amply about of dread in his voice, but the dread of everything else is much worse, "Okay. But not a word to anyone"

"Whatever you want, Buddy" And with a clap on Billy's back, he confirms he had no way of getting out of this now.

In the living room Maggie was having the same problem, as a forceful Alice has her shuffling a deck of pictured cards and splitting them in two as she instructed.

"Which pile would you like?" Alice asks, and Maggie looks to the piles and pushes the right pack forward. "Okay so is there nothing you don't want me to mention before we start?"

Maggie's cynicism has her shaking her head, letting Alice have full rein over whatever she had to tell her. If she believed she would be worried and wouldn't be taking part. But she was allowing Alice to have her fun, and attempting to be as open minded as she could.

"Okay… lets starts" Alice begins by turning the top two cards over and placing them beside one another before leaning over to take a look and examine whatever it was they were telling her. From what Maggie could see there was a group of people in one being led by a man in a field, the other seemed to be a just a woman on her own.

"So if we say these cards are to representing your family. I'm going to say… Daddy's girl?" She speaks without looking up.

However maybe Maggie's attention was caught at her announcement, "Uh… yeah. Yeah I was" She nods, not wanting to give anything else away as Alice begins to pull two more cards and muses over them.

"He was you're best friend, your knight in shining armour. But for some reasons… I don't know whether it's you looking back with resentment or it's someone else."

Maggie sits up a little watching the girl's lips twist and turn, and Maggie opens her own, "Maybe a bit of both. I mean, I used to sometimes wish we weren't so close because then when he, they were… gone, I wouldn't have missed him as much." Already she could feel herself feeling sucked in and an emotion clamping at her heart.

"Maggie are you sure you are okay? We don't have to talk about your family" Alice does look up at her now however, being earnest and understanding.

Sipping her water she shakes her head, "No it's fine. I'm just…"

"Surprised. It's okay, I don't blame you. I can tell you are a realist. But as long as you're sure?" Alice is seeking clarification.

"Positive. Now tell me more" Maggie smiles and slips from the armchair onto the floor by the table to get a closer look.

"You said before that resentment could have been from yourself and someone else. You didn't tell me who that other person might be"

"Oh right… well I wouldn't say resentment, my sister was always closer with my Mom and Nana, but sometimes I think she used to get a little envious that my dad and I had a lot more in common" She reveals.

"Ah…" She nods looking to the next set of cards and Maggie tries to look and decipher herself, "You haven't always been as close as either of you'd like. Something is stopping you… I can't tell whether it's on her part or yours"

That was something Maggie wasn't about to go into, yes a small flutter of nervousness sneaks upon her but she suppresses it for the sake of her own sanity and being caught up in the past.

"Let's move onto career shall we?" Alice asks; Maggie at this point is just going along with anything she says, until the men decide to join us, Alice tries to insist on privacy but Maggie waves it off saying it was okay.

Both of them seemed uncertain by what was going on with their own questions of interest but both of the girls in unison shush them.

"Mmm" Alice taps the first card as she is only pulling one now, "You are someone of many talents, with many paths you could have taken, and still could if you wanted to"

"Well… you know… I am blessed" Maggie flicks her hair with a hint of cockiness. Much of that to Maggie wasn't anything surprising, she already had said before she knew she could sing, so that one was slightly obvious.

Next card, "You… get tired a lot, it drains you but you are happy with your job."

Maggie nods, it was true but again nothing really shocking, but she begins humming and trapping her nail on a particular part of the card, and on closer inspection from Maggie and a bit of a quint it looked like a woman nursing something.

"Did you want to work with Children? Not children, maybe young, like babies?"

Maggie is smiling once again, "Yeah, for a while I contemplated being a midwife. God how are you getting this stuff?" She laughs in disbelief and looks to the guys in amazement as they both seemed to be intrigued themselves.

She just giggles it off and turns another, "Oh…" She says immediately.

"Oh?" Maggie feeling cautious about her ominous tone.

"Um… you do love you job but… at the same time, you hide behind it."

"True" Both Billy and Bucky speak up.

"No… not like that." She frowns and looks closer, "I can't… I'm feeling something about the card, but I can't be sure what. Like… it's… some sort of sanctuary…" She shakes her head and apologizes, to be honest Maggie was feeling relieved and she dared not to look in Billy's direction.

Maggie wets her throat with the water and happens to glance up at the enthralled men, both with puzzlement on their faces at what they were witnessing. Maggie was sure if there was a knock on the door both of them would jump out of their seats. The thought had her sniggering silently to herself.

"Ahhh, now for Love"

"Oh good god… go on then hit me with it. I'm going to end up an old lonely hag aren't I?" Maggie predicts, but it now her turn to feel the force of Alice's hushing.

She runs her fingers across her lips, closing the imaginary zip.

"Was it the guy we spoke of earlier, things didn't end well?" Maggie nods in response.

Bucky has to wonder why he needed to keep being mentioned.

"Mmm" She turns over a next card but this time she placed it on top of another at an angle, "He took you for a fool. And for a long time you let him. He was very… insecure."

"Yeah well men who are usually fucking around themselves think like that" The words do not come from Maggie, but of Billy. Despite there once closeness with everyone in the band, Billy had known and loved Maggie much longer and wouldn't speak fondly of anyone who hurt his best friend.

"Billy!" Maggie exclaims, she couldn't be angry with him, she wasn't she was amused but she wouldn't allow the moron of her past to bring upset to her friend after all this time.

"You fought a lot, to the point it got physical?"

"You _what_?!" Now it was Bucky. Only he didn't plan on using harsh words. Tearing his head from his body didn't seem satisfying enough.

"Oh for goodness sakes chill out the both of you. You're making me anxious. Yes it was Physical. I kicked seven bells of shit out of _him._ He never laid a hand on me, and for the love of god it was over years ago. I'm over it, you need to" Points to Billy, "And you…" redirecting her finger to Bucky "Didn't even know him. So… give it a rest. Sorry Alice, please continue." She nods her head firmly, but a second or two later she enjoyed an internal smile. It was nice knowing they were protective.

"Oh it's okay. It's actually quite sweet." She smiles over to the two men, both still looking slightly irritated. "Anyway… that's over with now. Like you said you are over him. For a while you didn't think you would be though, contemplated running back to him." Alice pauses and looks to the men and then leans over the table and cups her hand around Maggie's ear, "Probably did at some point"

Maggie was thankful for her discreetness and she simple answers with a nod. She hadn't been proud of herself for it. But people make mistakes and that was one of hers, she had been drunk, he was at the same bar, he told her how he missed her, made her feel good and went home with him. She woke up the next morning feeling shit and stupid, he however thought that everything was forgiven and they'd made up and would live happily ever after. For a long time after that morning she left him there in his delusions she felt it was her way of paying him back.

"He would have you back, even now." Alice almost reads her mind and again Maggie nods, knowing it to be true because only a few months ago she had bumped into him, and he gusted about missing her and all that bullshit, and now and again she would see a familiar car with a driver she recognized, drive past her apartment. At first it had creeped her out, but he was pathetic and despite everything he did do she knew he wasn't some vengeful nut-job stalker.

"But you're past him. Maybe not past what he did to you… you still shelter your heart for fear it will get broken again, but that isn't always down to him" Alice draws her hand back up to the first card she pulled that symbolized her dad.

Maggie just shrugs her shoulders and Alice knows to move on, "You will find it hard. There are chances there for you, but you resist them. But you want a knight in shining armour. You maybe want someone you can trust and who made you feel special like your father did. You don't seek perfection, you're a realist, and you know that it takes hard work, that nothing is ever rainbows and unicorns. Everything you do, you just want to feel appreciated, you don't just want someone to make you happy… you want to make _them_ happy" Alice looks to Maggie with a soft smile to which Maggie returns, bowing her head just the once in agreement.

"Okay last one…" Alice overturns the final card and breathes in before looking and absorbing everything that stands out to her. There is an illustration of two foxes, standing by a river with a path ahead of them, up in the sky there is the sun and the moon encircled with stars. It is the stars that get her attention.

"You aren't going to be a lonely old hag, Maggie. I promise you that. Sometimes the things that are unexpected are what makes us take risks." She reaches out and places her hand upon Maggie's. However Alice must be rubbing off on her before Maggie gets to her knees and shuffles across the floor towards the tarot reader and embraces her in a hug.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I was so negative to begin with. You really are amazing. And I don't just mean the cards" Maggie whispers to her.

"Thank you too. Oh… just… look out for stars" Alice whispers back before they pull apart and she taps the last card she pulls and winks.

Maggie's doesn't know what to make of it; right now she is just overwhelmed with feelings for the girl who had put a permanent smile on Billy's face. And she hoped more than anything that theirs would be the true love story.

"So do I get a go now?" Billy asks, nodding towards the cards.

"Maybe later" Alice leans in to kiss his bristly cheek and causes them to bloat out with the effect of his grin.

Maggie glances to Bucky with a smile, nudging her head towards them and wrinkling her nose with cuteness, "Well guys" Maggie jumps to her feet and claps her hands, "Time for me to go I'm afraid, I'm tired." She pouts lightly.

"Wow, I didn't even realize the time." Billy comments, "You going to be okay driving?" Billy stands.

"I'm only had half a glass of wine and plenty of water. I'll be fine." They both step forward and embrace each other instinctively.

"I'm so happy for you." She mutters to him as they sway slightly and then she kisses his cheek, "I'll see you in the morning" She squishes his cheeks and then steps back.

"Thank you Alice, for dinner it was lovely. And I'm so glad I finally got to meet you. I'll be seeing you soon right?"

"Of course. I'm actually going to stay tonight so I guess I'll see you in the morning" They share another hug, while Maggie tries not to make assumptions on her staying over already.

Two down one to go, however it might be awkward to give him a hug, and she is surprised to see him standing and she is preparing herself, wondering if he was going to take her in his arms.

Turns out no, unfortunately. This time at least. He was actually standing so he could walk her out to the car. She tried to tell him it was fine, because it was pouring it down with rain but he insists, telling her he wished to talk to her for a moment.

Giving the seriousness in his tone, she says one last goodbye to the lovebirds and heads for the door and pulling it open. She had barely even realized she had no coat with her when from behind her a grey hoodie is being placed over her shoulders and the hood shielding her from the downpour as they rush towards her car that was parked a few houses down.

"Get in" She calls to him, they couldn't really talk out here and she wasn't wasting any time, she climbed straight into the car, to shake off the weather. And thankfully she had the coat, however as Bucky gets in, he is only wearing a vest and is drenched.

"Here you'll catch you're death" She pulls off the jacket and hands it over to him.

"I think I'll manage. I've spent the majority of the last seventy years in a freezer" But he uses the jacket to wipe himself down a little, it was only rain but he didn't want to get her posh car all wet.

"Good point." She shrugs, "So what do you want to talk to me about?" She jumps right in, feeling an impatient need to know.

"Oh uh… that was strange huh? The… card thing. Instinct is telling me no, but… do you think maybe she… isn't all she is making out to be?" He enquires into how Alice knew so much, and he seemed to be much of a pessimist too and looking for viable reasons.

"If it was anyone else… I'd probably say something smelt fishy. But no, I really doubt it. I mean can you really imagine her being some secret spy? Her threat being to kill people with cuddles?" Maggie gargles with humour and slowly with the nodding of his head he joins her.

"Maybe. Still strange though, that she guessed so much and was right." Her runs his finger back through his hair to scrap the rattails from his face.

"Yeah I know. I'm trying to not let myself overthink it, scared it might frighten me if do. She is a Psychologist, or training to be. Who knows maybe it's real and she has some psychic ability, let's face it there are stranger things happening" Maggie slips her key into the ignition. "So is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" It hadn't been as serious as she thought.

"No… uh, I uh…" She can see the frown lines begin to appear and shifts in her seat to face him as he brings himself to look up her with his head inclined to towards his shoulder, "The other night… I never… I never apologized. I never even said sorry…" Bucky shakes his head at himself in disbelief, drawing himself forwards to sit with his elbows on his knees, his head still angled towards her.

Maggie's saliva squeaks in her ears as she rolls her lips and swallows. "So… you want to apologize?"

"I want to do more than apologize, Maggie, I want to take it back but I can't. And you know what?... I thought as long as you were angry with me then least I knew you were… paying me back. I was getting what I deserved. But then today… ahhg" He groans and shakes his head, looking back over to her. "I'm sorry. That's all I can offer you. And it seems pitiful when you think of how I behaved, and for everything you have given me and all I can give back is 'sorry'. But I truly mean it… and I _swear_ I will never lay my hands on you again, Maggie. Never" He looks to the window being bombarded with streams of water, the humidity in the air sticking to his damp flesh.

Maggie follows his gaze to the window, its vision complete impaired, and so was her own. Only it wasn't anything on the lines of tears, she simple tried to understand herself, and this lack of ability to stay angry with him. Even after everything she knows, that first night when he woke and hurt Billy, she had hated him, but even then she had been weak to him.

"I told you… it wasn't your hands that hurt me." Her voice is barely enough to penetrate through the sound of the rain hitting the glass, but he hears.

"All my life, I've been cautious with trusting people. But then you… I don't know what you even did to make me trust you. I had no choice. And yes you made me regret it, but how long did it last? A couple of days? And then look at today, I'm back to behaving like a child around you and the only logical reason to explain it is that above everything else I'm just a scared little girl who is frightened she is going to lose the people she cares about"

She was about to carry on and tell him how terrified she had been that that night at the cemetery he wouldn't come back, but she decides to keep it to herself. She knows he won't be here forever; this was just a pit stop on his long journey. She didn't know what it would do to her when he left, why she hadn't given her the chance to think about it.

The two of them had remained sitting there for a few silent minutes. He had nothing to offer her other than to prove why she should trust in him. But words wouldn't but it, actions always spoke louder.

They parted ways and Maggie took herself off home, where she actually looked forward to a little time on her own, to be able to shed the heavy coat of responsibility and take a little time for herself.

* * *

**Me again, hope you enjoyed :)**

**So I am sorry if anything about the tarot cards are inaccurate, a close friend of mine is quite an experienced reader and I've had a go, but not too great at it. Its all about instinct and intuition basically so don't shoot me if I played it out wrong. I'm just going from what I've seen myself, plus a lot of tarot readers approach it from many different ways. In this case its just a bit of fun.**

**Anyway next chapter... a little teaser... there might be some form of intimacy... and we're going to see a lot more of the two of them getting some alone time in future chapters coming up...**

**If you're wanting to persuade me to see them sooner, you know what to do *Flutters lashes and eyes Comment box***

**Danielle xx**


	16. Chapter 16 - Girl In The Mirror

**Hellllloooo everyone!**

**Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, it put a huge smile on my face and as promised, here is the next chapter!**

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**Playlist;**

**Maggie **

**Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson (More like James Morrison's cover as it is acoustic)  
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper.  
Empty - Ray LaMontagne.  
**

**Maggie and Billy  
**

**Time after Time - Cyndi Lauper (Cross with Eva Cassidy version)  
These Are The Days - Van Morrison.**

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**Disclaimer: I do not have any rights to anything Marvel or any of the songs and lyric's used in this story and chapter. I'm just innocently borrowing**

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****CHAPTER XVI**  
**

Maggie drew herself a bath and sat upon the edge with her fingers twirling in the water, feeling it caress her hands with it purity. Unable to wait any longer she discards herself of her robe and steps into the pit of bubbles, the heat almost painful for a moment as she sits down and lets it consume her, biding her time until after a few seconds her body adjusting to the heat.

Letting out a contented sigh, she lays back against the cool porcelain of the tub, while her toe toys with the tap, the feeling of peace washing over her, and she blindly finds the flannel. With the help of her own slow moving hands she works with the water to allow the flannel full reins over her body, the trickling and massaging movements causing her to arch her head back feeling sensual sparks beginning to spread across her sensitive skin, absorbing them and carrying them to her awakening stomach and below.

Her nipples soaked up the light tingle of the million tiny little bubbles as they fizz and pop against them, the new chill causes them to grow harder as they peak just above the surface, and she resists the urges to pay them the attention they crave, wanting to be taunted and played with, they longed to be between the lips of a man, to feel the rush of heat as he suckles, to reunite with the feel of grazing teeth as they bite down and caused them the perfect mixture of pleasure and pain. Oh what they would have done for a mouth. They had almost forgotten what it felt like. Her whole body was beginning to awaken and retrieve their own thoughts of abandonment, her ovaries in particular.

_Wash it away Maggie. Wash it away, girl._

She sinks herself down into the tub, attempting to cleanse herself of any sexual feeling that has her fingers twitching.

Needless to say she didn't manage to ignore the urges.

But later one once she had climbed out of the chilled bath, she took to snuggling up in bed with the television on, lamp off and a whimsical smile upon her fresh face. Now she understood why she appreciated living alone.

***T*C***

"Hey bud, everything okay?" Billy asks as he hops down the last step and Bucky places the tablet down on the table, having borrowed it without asking.

"Yeah… just watching some TV." Bucky nods his head and looks up to the television for the first time since he had turned it on, seeing a man walking across the screen, butt naked.

"I see." Billy snickers and sees the tablet in the table with the screen still lit, lightly smirking to himself. "Well I'm just getting us a drink" He leans with his elbows on the back of the sofa, sucking his bottom lip for a moment. After a moment of silence he just pushes himself up and wanders into the kitchen to get a couple of bottle of water before taking to standing in the doorway, watching Bucky's eyes drifting now and again to the piece of technology.

He thought maybe he was using it to look for news or information, but then he remembered how he tries to be subtle after Maggie had left and find out about our, or more her music ventures.

Billy steps forward and goes straight to the table and picks up the tablet. After waking it up and entering the PIN, he opens up Youtube and finds the right subscription.

"Here… there are quite a few. So you might want headphones." He holds out the Tablet to him, Bucky trying to pretend he doesn't know what he is talking about, but he had already caught sight of a few small pictures of a blurred Maggie on the screen. He most definitely wasn't stupid.

"What do I do?" Bucky fails to hide his fondness for wanting to watch, he was already busted and he was thankful for it else he wouldn't have known where to even find them.

Billy gave him a few points, letting him in on the workings of Youtube, where to find the similar videos or playlists, and then how to expand the video if he turns the tablet horizontal.

With a tap on Bucky's shoulder Billy headed back upstairs to Alice, while Bucky stands and makes a quick visit to the basement to locate the headphones he knew he had left with the music player.

Getting himself comfortable, he wonders where to even begin. There were so many, he saw her name 'BrightEyes' and wondered why she had chosen that name. Knowing Maggie it couldn't have been born out of vanity, even though he had always been struck by her eyes on many of occasion. Maybe if he listens to the music he would find out.

The first on the list with the upload date the furthest away was entitled: 'Man In The Mirror', he was sure he had listened to the song before on her iPod but he was quite positive it hadn't been her singing on that.

So with earphones tucked into his tabs and inhales slightly before using his finger to tap the link as Billy has instructed. On doing so another screen popped up with a momentary black rectangle before Maggie appeared before him. Only young Maggie, possible only early to mid-teens, her cheeks still full with their puppy fat, shyness in her hooded eyes and lips. She is almost hiding behind the guitar on her lap.

It was peculiar seeing her like this, he hadn't imagined her young, he had seen the picture of her with her family but she had been in her late teens then, whereas now… she was just a girl.

"Hi, so I'm Maggie. Uh… I've always enjoyed singing and I love music." This must have been her first video. Her voice wasn't much different, maybe it had a more whispered approach but he put that down to fear.

Her eyes drift up to the corner of the screen and back again, "So… let me know what you think" She says and then looks down to her Guitar and clearing her throat. A sudden spark of familiarity hits his ears. And he begins to wonder as a tinkering precise introduction was produced by her fingers upon the strings.

"_I'm gonna make a change…"_

His eyes closed, he didn't even need to hear the whole line; the first note of that velvety voice and it confirmed his suspicions. There was a more girly tone to her voice than he recalled, but a hint of richness, her voice still too pure to hold the grainy light husk that she possessed in 'Recording 001'.

How had he not guessed that it was her? How had he not been able to tell it was her voice? He had listened to the song so very carefully, and also listen to her speak. Perhaps he had noticed, only his brain just hadn't let him in on it until now.

Of course it was her. Because everything that he had discovered to be amazing about this world in this short amount of time had one way or another come back down to her. Why did he think this would be any different?

Opening his eyes he watches the young girl close hers and wash herself away with her voice and guitar as though it was all that existed in the world, and he was sweep up in the current with her.

And wave after wave came with each song recorded, watching her grow and blossom before his eyes and discover her spark, and he needed no song to understand the name of 'Bright Eyes', it spoke for itself. Over the years he see's changes in her, she is becoming more confident, one minute having discovered make-up and piling it on, the next a more subtle approach as she learns the arts of being a woman.

Song after song she blew him away with her simplicity and power, even when she was having fun with a bounce of attitude in her shoulders with up tempo numbers, especially one where she leaves behind the guitar, and that wasn't the only changes.

Backing music supported her while she looked… colourful to say the least. If he hadn't have spent majority of the eighties in Cry-o he might have recognized her flamboyant appearance was in tribute to the era. Her hair was backcombed and all swept over to one side; her eyes were painted vibrant colours, with a thick line of orange on her cheeks, and bright pink lipstick. He wondered how she looked so ridiculous but still is gorgeous to him, he also pondered if that's normal being as she explains in the video the whole make over was in celebration of her freedom having turned eighteen.

She had reached adulthood and decided to celebrate that by dancing around like a young teenage girl, and singing a song about girl's just wanting to have fun. And for Bucky it was the most humorous video of yet, especially when she is so wrapped up in dancing around that she tries and disgusts the way one of the many strands of neon beads around her neck jump up and flick her in the eye.

_She actually posted this for the world to see?_

He could almost hear her voice asking him why she shouldn't?

After the video she announced that she wouldn't be around for the summer as 'usual', because she was off to summer camp, whatever that was, but she had noticed that from previous mentions in earlier videos and ages she wasn't at all too happy about it. He had to wonder why. Maybe he would have to ask her.

The next two videos returned to her comfort zone with her guitar, having him relax back with her, with his head tucked behind his head, to resist touching the screen. He had done that before now, trying to magically stroke her hair, only to send the video awry forgetting it was touch sensitive.

He watches the happy girl before him, her look on life so free spirited and soulful, but a feeling of dread takes a hold of him when in a recording she mentions an anecdote from her nineteenth birthday just past.

Nineteen. That age stayed in his mind, and what the year would bring with it. Watching her sing with no clue her world was about to be turned upside down by the death of her parents, and the next video says everything.

She's older, and looking at the dates it had been over eighteen months since her previous video, her eyes are pools of exhaustion, her mourning taking a last effect. There is barely any introduction, she falters on the first key of the guitar but picks herself back up. There is no cheeky looks to the camera, no smile in her voice, and the song spoke for itself.

Ray LaMontange 'Empty', the title gave it away. She sang it beautifully of course, and she had discovered her mellow tone of pain here, the hints he had heard in the recordings, but here and now, knowing her, he could see how she was constantly trying to control herself, but as the climax of the song broke out, the cracks began to appear.

'_I look my demons in the eyes,  
Lay bare my chest, said "do  
your best to destroy me"._

_See I've been to hell and  
back so many times  
I must admit you kinda bore me._

_There's a lot of ways to  
kill a man, a lot of ways to die,  
Yes and some already dead who  
walk beside me._

_There's a lot of thing I don't understand;  
why so many people lie.  
It's the hurt I hide  
that fuels the fire inside me.'_

This part of the song is especially dark, and yet it is the part she pours her passion into the most and he can see she resonates with. The song itself has ample amount of melancholy interjected, but still beautiful in its own depressive way. Sometimes he feels the urge to look away, as though the moment was too private for her to be sharing.

He was relieved almost when the song was over, so he could move away from those eyes, and thankfully soon enough another video was dominating the screen and his sadness from the previous video is being distracted by two people sitting on a sofa, both clutching guitars.

"Hi everyone, so going to do something a little different today. I've mentioned him the past and I finally managed to twist his arm into doing a few songs with me." Her smile is back, there are still dark rings under her eyes but she manages to hide them behind her smile for her fellow musician.

"Say Hi, Billy" She chuckles and nudges him.

He Looks up slightly and waves a nonchalant hand and murmurs a 'Hi'. Maggie doesn't try to make him more enthusiastic, he is too occupied with tuning his guitar. He does look younger, and Bucky gets to see what he looks like under his beard. The most prominent feature was the indent on his chin, and he also had a thick mop of black curly hair.

They look at each other to silently inform the other they were ready and Billy begins playing his guitar for Maggie to pick up once he had lead her in before she begins to sings the song 'Time After Time', while they play in perfect unison.

It isn't until the chorus strikes that Billy opens his mouth to harmonize with his talented friend, and his voice is carried with Maggie's, he is still reserved that is obvious enough and Bucky comes to understand that he is talented himself, his tone working well against Maggie's.

He watched as Maggie looked to Billy, smiling genuinely, obviously pleased to be sharing the moment with him and the impression that they were addressing the lyrics to one another made it even more pleasant to watch.

Afterwards there were a couple of more songs, and after the first Billy's confidence begins to shines as he forgets about the camera and takes more of the vocals with Maggie lightly backing him, his voice was like sandpaper and throaty, rather different in comparison to his softer speaking voice.

He already knew they were close, and he doubted anything could change that but the way Billy is looking to Maggie, specifically when his voice produces certain lyrics, telling her to make the most of the now, Bucky realized that maybe nothing could ruin whatever bond they had. He knew it went past more than just friendship; there isn't anything they wouldn't do for one another. They weren't lovers but they were life long companions, and perhaps brought out each other's strengths, mainly the strength it took to wear those weaknesses for the other to see.

It was quite a bond, one he felt familiar, but not only by his past and Steve, but their ability to open up their little bubble to include him.

He would forever be thankful to the two of them, and he wished he knew of a way to repay them but everything he thought of just seemed sparse in comparison to what they had given him.

***T*C***

"Maggie!" Called out a recognizable feminine voice.

Maggie's feet carried her as fast as she possibly could through the overgrown maze, the moss and vines of ivy snap at her feet, attempting to tangle up her feet and envelope and suffocate her in the ground.

"Maggie!" Again the voice, but she wouldn't look, she wouldn't answer.

Run! That's all she could do, but she was lost, so very close, sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of greenery, the fear driving adrenaline to her feet, but she is barely getting anywhere. And suddenly she is in swamplands, the earth and thick slush eating at her feet. She pushes violently with her arms to wade through but it's getting deeper, and she's so tired. She's so tired and weak against it.

She looks around for anything to help her pull herself free but there is nothing other than the brown, oil like consistency of the swamp, claiming her for its own. She tries to cry out for help, but nothing passes her lips, she's going to drown. But she can't give in. She can't let the woman take her.

She is about to be submerged then she is being torn from its grasps, arms around her small frame, so strong and secure, turning the swamp into the clearest of sea's, seeing her wriggling toes at the bottom.

"You're safe. I'm here. I'm right here" His voice making her so happy, his arms so safe as she turns within them to look upon the giant of a man. His long dark tresses masking his face.

"You came. I couldn't find you. I was looking everywhere… I couldn't… I thought you'd left me" She rushes herself up and into his arms, running her fingers through his hair in desperation to see his face and eyes.

Seeing them there, illuminated by the sun breaking through her fear and wall of resistance and letting the water raise her to bring her nose snug against his, his arms lowering to cradle her rear, her legs encircling around him.

"Well I'm here now. Nothing is going to hurt you. I'm never going anywhere, as long as you need me." He whispers, gliding his nose down the length of hers, making her smile.

"It would hurt me… if you didn't let me kiss you, right now" She glances down to his lips, and wettings hers as thought she was hungry and faced with a mouth-watering steak. To hell with it…

Gripping his hair between her fingers she, she holds his head in place to make it impossible to escape her advances, and she claims his lips in an embrace of lust filled passion, and she gives his hair a tug to tell him to reciprocate and since this was a dream and she was controlling what was happening of course he kissed her back.

In her dream he wanted to kiss her as much as she wanted to kiss him, and their mouths became fused in a web of tangled tongues and moans, it tender as the world around them is silent and their audience.

Bucky lowers her back to the shore, the waves cleansing their feet, and his robust figure above her, shades her from the sun. She leans into his touch as he caresses her cheek and down her neck, leaving pimples in its tracks and she can't help but react to his hands to have him touch her in the intimate ways she craved for so long.

"Did you think about me like it? Before, in the bath?" His mouth is exploring her jawline.

"Yes" She gasps; eyes wide and skies above orange and in the centre of it all the vision of herself bathing, her eyes closed with her lips parted in ecstasy as her own hands taunt and tease her own body, his name falling from her lips in a desperate plea for more.

Back to the same man kissing her, her fingers are magnetized to his hair, unable to grip tight enough, "God I love your hair." And she finds the strength to push him up and clam his lap, rubbing against him, while kissing his hairline, feeling it tickling her nose and giggling as his arms palm her rear.

"Oh, so you like that part of me?" She snickers into hair, as he relocates his hand to pull her blouse to reveal her bare shoulder.

Raising her eyes they drift across the river to the opposite bank where she sees a mirror image of herself with the man. She can see his head buried deep within her neck, exposing her to him, and her hand mimicking hers as it runs down his spine and pulls him closers.

There isn't much different apart from herself. She cocks her head to the side, as does the woman across the bay, her hair isn't copper like hers but a vibrant scarlet with heavy eye make-up, almost like a decorative mask and her smile - There was nothing pure or happy about it, just a menacing leer of threat.

Maggie clings to Bucky and looks away, hiding her face back within his hair, as he is now drawing on her flesh with his fingers, just wanting to lose herself within him again. And she pulls back to smile at him, seeing the same happiness she feels reflected in his orbs.

She is losing herself within them, but there is a sudden flicker of darkness cast upon them and the sky above. The happiness slowly fades as she sees herself in his throbbing pupils, she's running closer, and the voice again, calling out her name.

Pulling him back to her, over his shoulder the mirror imagine of her is now running forward across the now parched river bed, raising a hand and clasped in it was a gun.

"NOOOO!" Maggie screams out, but it's as though she is underwater, and the whole world should be able to hear her but instead it's as though she is mute and nobody, not even Bucky can hear, or sense her fear as she watches the bullet swim through the air. Her arms crush his frame as she grips him so tightly attempting to move him but he's too heavy. She's too weak.

She tries and tries again but he resists, and as the bullet closes in on them all she can do is close her eyes, and will the world to make them teleport to some desert island a million miles away where they could be safe.

She wills it with all the power in her heart, a piercing whistle in her ears, like a child screaming in the midst of a frightful nightmare.

Suddenly she is deaf, the atmosphere around them shifts.

Her eyes scan around. Maggie's doppelganger is gone, the bullet is gone. The world is gone, and the first sound hits her. Seagulls. Beautiful seagulls. She did it. They were safe, it was impossible, but she didn't care. They were safe.

Bringing her eyes upon Bucky, who's still wearing that same heart fluttering smile, and she squeals out in glee.

"Maggie?" He chuckles, questioning her.

She just holds onto him, burying her head in his chest. His wonderful beating chest. She wanted to cry she was so happy and relieved.

"Maggie…"

She could feel dripping upon her face, the liquid tumbling down her cheek, she thought she was crying.

Drop.

Drop.

"Mag…"

Something drops right on top of her eye lid, as she shifts to see what he wants. Reaching up her hand she rips her eye and blinks down to her blood smeared fingertips. She frowns for a moment but her hand captures a red perfectly rounded raindrop.

"Jam…" She begins to look up to her lover, her heart completely stopping when she see's blood. And not just a few drops of it, but a mass amount of it… spewing from his mouth.

"James? James!" She cries out in a panic as his body becomes limp, his eyes drifting into shadow as she falls back out of her arms.

"No… NO!" She screams out, throwing herself to his side, shaking him, willing him back to life, her whole body being thrown into a terror seizure, doing everything she could to wake up, everything she could to make his dead eyes look at her. She begins to rub him, trying to warm him, she needs to feel his warms. She needs to feel his breath on her cheek, hear his heart beating wildly, his lips back upon hers where they belonged.

But he was just so cold. So still.

"Please… please don't leave me. Pleease" Her mouth opens to cry out but she emits no sound, her heart as broken as the man before her, her nails and fists clawing at his chest and crisp shirt.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What a shame" That voice… that shadow… looming over them and she lays upon Bucky's chest, soundlessly sobbing.

"You could have stopped it you know. Embraced us, and saving him would have been as easy as breathing. Well at least breathing when you're living. Poor fool might have a problem with that. He was hot though. Like I said… a shame."

Maggie bits back the bile that burnt her throat; bites back the anger that is so ready to consume her. She couldn't do it. She couldn't let her get inside of her head.

"Leave us alone. Leave us alone" She begs.

The other Maggie begins to mimic her in a perfect tone but there is a hint of disgust. "You're so weak. As if he could have ever wanted you anyway. As if he could want anyone so weak… so pathetic" Her shadow self, hissing in one ear and then the other.

"LEAVE US ALONE!" An earthshattering bellow, rushes from her and carried by the gale they were swept up within.

Maggie finds herself awake, upright in bed, her screams will echoing and bouncing off each wall, her window wide open with a rush of wind sending her curtains to dance along the ceiling and a deep chill within her bones, yet the sweat still streaming from her.

The blast of wind into the room is leaving her lungs drowning in it, causing her to hyperventilate.

The wind subsides but the tears and inability to breathe properly did not, she begins to fumble in her bedside draw looking for her tablets, she finds the bottle but it doesn't rattle.

_Why isn't it rattling?_

_Why can't I breathe?!_

_I can't get the bastard things open!_

Maggie struggles with her shaky hands up get the safety lid off, they are great by the way in a state of emergency.

Dropping the empty pot to the ground, her fears were confirmed and she has no other option but to drag herself out of bed, her feet still asleep and gripping onto the bedside table she accidentally knocks off the lamp, but is too preoccupied with getting her mind to tell her to breathe properly to care.

She manages to get to the dining table and finding her purse, she was slowly getting there but the panic of now having any back up pills in there sends her back over the edge again. And now James is back in her mind again. She's well aware it was a dream, but what if something was wrong?

Giving up the search for pills she grabs a hold of her phone, attempting steady deep breaths, while she leaves over the table on her elbows and tries to be as precise as possible, and is thankful she had Billy on dial tone.

Her fight was now rejecting her to breathe properly and her mind was going into back up mode. Her eyes are heavy, everything around her likes whirlpools, but she's thankful for one thing the sleepy voice at the end of the line.

She manages to mutter three words; "Breathe… Bucky… Pills…" and her brain shut down her fight and consciousness and everything is black before she can even hit the floor.

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**So there you have it... dramatic, but Maggie's mind will be explained eventually.**

**Next chapters will revolve mainly around the two of them and getting some alone time.**

**Again, ****If you're wanting to persuade me to see them sooner, you know what to do *Flutters lashes and eyes Comment box***

**Danielle xx**


	17. Chapter 17 - Hold Me In My Arms

**A/N: Hello my lovelies. I was going to wait till Thursday to post but since I had a few reviews that made me grin from ear to ear here it is :)**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel or Bucky but unfortunately he owns me.**

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_"When you came to me, with bad dreams and your fears, it's easy to see you've been crying..." - Ray LaMontagne (Hold You In My Arms)_

**CHAPTER XVII**

"Billy do you want me to call an Ambulance?" A frightened Alice rushes down the stairs after Billy who has just gotten dressed in record time, his heart pounding for the well-being of his best friend who had given a usually sluggish man of the morning a vital boost.

He had known as soon as he heard the phone ring and saw the time to only nearly six in the morning that something wasn't right.

"No, she's having a panic attack. Just keep trying to call her back" Billy rushes through to the kitchen completely oblivious to a baffled Bucky who is pulling out the earphones and sitting up from where he lay upon the sofa, wondering what the commotion was about.

"What's wrong? Is Roberta okay?" Bucky jumps to conclusions while looking for answers from a nail biting Alice who has the phone to her ear.

"She's fine. It's Maggie, there is something wrong with Mag…" Alice loses her train of thought by the man before her and more so the big clump of metal he wore for an arm.

Bucky didn't care to where her eyes lay, all he had any motivation for was her words, and he leaps from the sofa with a stumble, but the stumble belonged within his voice, "W…hat? What do you mean something is wrong with Maggie?!" A surge of dread overwhelms him, unable to think anything but the worse.

"Maggie? Maggie? It's Alice, Hon, are you okay?" Alice's asks, obviously finally getting an answer as Billy comes racing back into the room carrying a bottle of pills and inhaler.

"Billy she seems really dazed…"

"Just tell her I'm on my way. I'll be there in a few minutes. I need to borrow your car." He giving Alice instruction before holding up her keys, whereas the front door is already open for him but Bucky stands pacing, coming to realize he had no idea where she lived.

_How could I not know this?_

_How could I be so stupid to let her be on her own?_

"I'm coming with you" Bucky pulls on his jacket, nearly tearing it at the seams as Billy speed walks past him.

"No. Stay here with Alice. I have this. She's going to be okay" He holds his hand up while with the other opens the door. "Bucky she doesn't need you right now, okay!" He sees that Bucky was moving to protest and stops him before he can jump in the car himself. He left it with a tone of finality by slamming the door.

_She doesn't need you._

Bucky turns around seeing Alice standing in the doorway, still speaking on the phone.

"What is she saying?"

"She okay now. She just passed out…"

_She _just _passed out?_

That was it, Bucky didn't need to hear anymore, maybe she wasn't in any immediate danger and she might not need him right now, but he needed her. He needed to see she was okay.

"Yeah… he's here… Bucky she…" Alice is extending the phone out but Bucky is already gone, so is Billy but he had left moments before. Maggie had been insisting on speaking to him but he was nowhere to be seen. At least not until she moved forward and movement across the street caught her eye.

With bulging eyes Alice watched as Bucky swing his feet up onto the rooftop of the apartment building opposite and disappeared from sight. Alice's swept lashes flutter rapidly before her sleep deprived eyes, wandering if she was dreaming. His arm, the chaos of everyone this morning, his ability to… she didn't even know what it was.

"What the hell is going on here?"

***T*C***

Maggie buzzed Billy in and then left the door open for him, going back to sit on a dining room chair, her head and body still feeling dazed and weak, while a black mark upon her eye keeps her from being able to concentrate on anything other than that.

At first she thought it was a spider, but soon coming to realize she had perhaps lightly scratched or got some dirt in her eye on falling. It would fade.

Her swollen eyes drift around the apartment, seeing the morning sun shine through the blinds and dust particles floating in the light.

_It was just a dream. Only a dream._

"Maggie?" Billy calls just out in the entrance of the apartment, before he comes racing into the open plan living room and dining area, out of breath and flushed. It looked more like he was the one needing the inhaler.

"Hey… god I'm so sorry. Oh Billy I'm so sorry for…"

"Don't you even dare madam! How are you feeling now?" He is by her side and stroking her damp hair.

"I'm okay… I just had a bad dream and couldn't find my tablets. It's passing now, I think." She sadly smiles up at his as his hand begins to run down his back and sits him down in the chair next to her, and beginning to open up his own bottle of pills, giving her one to take with the water she already has clutched in her hands.

"Did you…" He doesn't need to finish.

Maggie shakes her head, "I don't think so. I mean… maybe" She looks over to him like a naughty child, waiting to be scolded.

"It's okay…" He shifts closer, "I know you're stronger than that" He grazes her chin with his fist, "How long have you been having the dreams?"

Maggie swallows back the pills with a sip of water and shrugs her shoulder, "On and off his week. But they were never very bad I forgot about them really until... this one. Billy what if it's trying to tell me something?"

Billy slowly shakes his head and pats her back, "It's saying you're exhausted. That's all. You're putting too much pressure on yourse-"

Billy stops seeing Maggie is distracted by something out towards her bedroom, and she is picking herself up a sudden rush within her feet.

Bucky looks around the bedroom, he was sure it was hers by the photograph on the night stand. On climbing up the fire escape he had looked into a series of windows, and when it came to hers the first thing he had seen was the window was wide open, the bed one mass of disarray and a light laying across the floor and alarm had him climbing into the room.

He wondered what had happened to her, why Billy had been so panicked and in a rush. What was wrong with her?

His eyes shift to the door when he hears and sees movement, to see the center of the mayhem herself, stepping forward on seeing the rings of red around her eyes and cheeks as she looks right back at him.

"Maggie…"

Suddenly her lip is quivering and her feet begin to move in a quicken pace as she rushes towards him, he didn't know what to expect, he thought maybe she might be angry with him for being here but when she halts just before him, her eyes swimming in emotion and moisture, she just looks to him as though… relieved.

And before he could even question what move she would make next, she was crushing herself, flush up against him with her arms clasping around his torso so tightly and needy, as she had in her dream but this time it was real and he hadn't gone anywhere, he wasn't hurt or drifting away from her. He was right there, and his heart thumping against her ear as she snuggles into his wonderful chest.

Her forwardness shocked him, and the feel of her so desperately needing to be close to him was familiar to him as his own body craved the same and his arms, both of them come to envelop her. He was baffled but in that moment he didn't need answers, he could just bask in knowing she was safe.

Maggie probably shouldn't have reacted how she had, maybe she shouldn't have even wanted him seeing her like this, but for a moment, even if it's just for a moment she allowed the weakness of her emotions and him. The liberation has her small frame quivering in the seclusion of him, feeling his nose within her hair. Suddenly she was just a twenty year old girl again, forlorn to her need for safety and to protect those important to her. Even the bedlam of herself.

"You're doing too much Maggie. You need a break…" It might have been Billy's voice that speaks but it is Bucky's chest she shakes her head against and comes to the realization that she had been stood there now for quite some time, clutching at him for dear life.

Sniffling away the trickling in her nose, and quickly and discreetly wiping her eyes there is something almost resistance about the way his arms let go of her, as though he was quite happy for her to stay where she was.

"I'm fine Billy. Really." She turns around, licking her lips into a smile.

"No Maggie, you aren't" He is suddenly holding something up in his hand and she internally groans knowing what it is.

"The prescription is dated three weeks ago. How long have you been without the pills?" Billy asks her.

Maggie feels like a child being quizzed by a parent, while feeling embarrassed some school friend is present and hearing a part of her business she doesn't want him to.

"A little under that time." She whispers, but decides to be more forceful before he begins on a rant, "But I've been okay. They just make me tired… but I know. I know I need to take them. And I will. I'll go to the pharmacy later okay?" She tries to reassure him, but he is just shaking his head.

"No, I'm going to the 24 hour pharmacy now." He says, not allowing her protests to change her mind. "Bucky, just… make sure she just relaxes" He instructs before heading for the door, and Maggie rolls her eyes.

Bucky only vaguely hears as he is quite wrapped up in the reasons she might need medication and why Billy sees it as an emergency while she doesn't.

"You're ill?" He blurts, "Maggie what… what…" He clenches his jaw lightly, "What's making you ill?" Fearing all the possibilities and is constantly afraid she's going to reveal that she is in danger that not even he can protect her from.

"What makes me ill?" She looks around puzzled as she picks up the lamp that is still on the floor, "I'm not ill" She vows, but sees fear in his eyes and they were almost childlike.

"I'm not ill, Bu… James." She swallows back the dryness in her throat, blindly placing the lamp down and stepping back towards him. Part of her deep within wondered what would happen if she told him. He was already aware there was something else going on here. But if he knew, there is no telling how he might react. And something stopped her. She didn't want to see his eyes change from the way they looked at her. She didn't want to be anything other than Maggie to him.

"I get a little anxious sometimes. That's all, things just get on top of me and I have a panic attack… but I'm fine. I mean I'm all sweaty and disgusting but… apart from that I'm fine." And he was fine too and that was all she needed, well a growl of her stomach told her that perhaps she needed something to eat.

"Yeah… I mean, you're not disgusting. I mean… I can make you some toast, you can have a shower. I'm capable of making you some toast." He just wished he was capable of believing that she was okay and not have to fear that something is going to try and hurt her, or someone is going to take her away.

"Okay" She rubs her arms and chuckles lightly, "Oh the kitchen, it's just down…" She points but she is sure he will find it. Right now he is too busy shadowing her to the bathroom. He is simply doing it to make sure she is completely steady on her feet, and lingers by the door.

"Are you going to stick around? Watch me undress or something?" She teases, as his feet seem magnetized for the moment.

"What? No, no I'm just making sure you're okay. You'll just hollow if you need me?"

"Yeah, you can come and scrub my back if you like." She leans her temple on the depth of the door.

Now that image is permanently implanted into his mind, "Well if that's what you want…" He smiles through everything, rubbing his bristly chin with his the back of his knuckles, making Maggie jealous of his hand.

The smirk upon an already handsome face just made him completely gorgeous, especially with his lack of a razor over the past few days. She always did like a man a little more untidy and rugged. He reminded her of what seemed like years ago when she had him tied down in Billy's basement. She wouldn't mind tying him down again.

_Oh Maggie!_

"I think I'll be okay this time. But I guess I know where to come in future. Now…" She waves her hand, shooing him. He must be one of the only people who could make her free to cry in his arms and then make her smile a minute or so later without even trying.

Tearing himself away, she closes the door. He was in her apartment, and as he begins to explore her home there is definitely her personality all around it, whether it be photographs, pictures on the wall, books, and various ornaments to brighten up the neutral décor. She must have been doing well for herself to have such an accomplished and welcoming home. It wasn't huge but there might be more room than one person living on their own might need. Especially considering the dining table that had six chairs but she was a likeable person, she probably had friends around and plays hostess.

As much as he wanted to look closer around, see the photo's up close and learn what books and films she liked, feeding her was a little more important than being nosy right now, so he makes himself acquainted with the kitchen.

Finding the bread was simple enough and puts it in the toaster, he wasn't a complete virgin to everything modern, he had 'lived' here and there and seen the world. Plus it was a toaster, it wasn't rocket science.

Going to the fridge, it opens effortlessly for him to peer inside and look for butter. He's rather annoyed with what he finds. Maggie has never shown any lack of ability to keep a full fridge, she is always coming by Billy's with bags of groceries and food and yet all he finds in hers is a tub of grapes, butter, eggs, milk and rather a few bottles of self-promoted energy boost drinks.

He tries to think back to the mornings when she turns up to look after Roberta, she makes her breakfast, feeds her and then has a quick coffee before usually leaving for work. He'd never seen her having her own breakfast. He'd seen her fill her face, but only usually at dinner time and there was nothing here to make a lunch with to take to work.

The drinks annoyed him too; he already knew she was pushing herself. For someone like him it wouldn't seem too bad, but for her with her tiny little body, who seems to only live on coffee and energy drinks, just doesn't seem right. She wasn't like him.

So on that note he took to testing his old culinary skills by making use of the eggs, and giving the oven some life. Everything is well organized for him to find the pan and a wooden spoon. He started like any normal making scrambled eggs would, with a knob of butter in a pan.

He had an incident with one eggs, the first, after attempting to break it and did so a little too hard, the egg shell disintegrated, and rather than spend all morning trying to fish it out of the pan, he just started over, being more careful.

It wasn't rocket science to make eggs, so it came quite naturally after that.

Maggie had finished in the shower and wrapped her robe around herself, she had planned to go to her bedroom to finish drying off and get dressed by the smell of cooking lures her in. Perhaps she was a little cautious, with small amount of faith in him, but as she comes to the doorway and sees nothing is on fire or burning she is able to watch the man who looks too big in her small galley kitchen, and out of place standing over the stove. Obliviously it was hot work because he had shed his jacket and was just wearing his black vest.

Her mouth is watering and she isn't sure whether its him or the food that her taste buds are craving. Perhaps a little of both.

After the dream, and then being in his arms earlier, there was no more denying that perhaps she enjoyed being close to him in a more intimate level. It could have been just the dream, you could dream of being romantic with the strangest of people and when you wake a few hours later you can still be hooked up on it and the person if in the dream that person is making you happy. And despite the sinister aspects of the dream, when she was in his arms and he was touching and kissing her… she was happy.

Maybe she was now, as she watched him, imagining a creased brow as he seemed to be concentrating hard upon breakfast. Breakfast he was making her.

"Don't be too shocked. I'm not a complete liability" He had sensed her presence a little while ago, and while enjoyed having her watching him, it was slightly off putting.

She hums in amusement and moves closer, feeling a hint of redness pass over her cheeks for a few seconds having been caught.

"I didn't say a word." She steps forwards and holds her hands up in innocence as he glances over his shoulder, seeing her looking a little more refreshed and the redness in her eyes disappearing, to reunite them with their usual main vivid colour of green. It suited her much better.

"You don't have to." He begins pouring her eggs upon her laid out awaiting toast, and moving the pan to the sink to fill with a little warm water.

"Eat!" He demands, turning around and wiping his hand upon the towel thrown over his shoulder and hanging down over his heart. Why do all men do that when they're cooking?

"You aren't having any?" She frowns only seeing the one plate.

"I'm not hungry. Now get it eat." He gives her a pointed look.

"Okay, but come sit with me. I hate eating on my own." She takes her breakfast and the cutlery in order to eat is and wanders from the room.

Bucky watches over her, taking in her attire of dressing robe, bright pink towel around her hair, she was just missing some pink fluffy slippers. Throwing the towel down, he follows on after her, seeing her sitting down on the dining chair with her leg bend up with her foot resting on the pad of the seat while she makes sure she appropriately covered.

"So you can cook then…" She stabs her eyes with the fork as he comes to sit down opposite her.

"It's eggs, Maggie. It's hardly a banquet"

She finally takes a bite and perhaps she was slightly wary of it maybe not being edible but she is surprised, pleasantly so, and he looks at her knowing exactly what she had been thinking and could ready her expression all over.

"It's really good. I'm sorry if I had little faith in you" She grins over her fork as she takes her second mouthful, "So like I was saying you can cook. I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't anything you can't do." She chews and points her fork at him.

"Oh I'm sure there is plenty." He pulses his lips thinking of an example.

"Are you that cocky you can't even think of anything off the top of your head?" She calls him out.

"I'm thinking!... I suppose I can't fly…"

She snorts, extremely unladylike, and not exactly a pretty sight when eating either, "Oh yeah because we can all learn to fly, Dufus. If I wasn't enjoying else eggs so much I would feel inclined to flick some at you" Okay more of the snort, she really needed to stop that.

Sipping her drink, she clears her mouth, "Okay look at it like this… something you know I can do but you can't…" She picks at her toast and then sucks her thumb.

Now his eyes are only raised for a moment before she sees his wee little brain clicking into place and giving him an example, "I can't sing. No musical talents what so ever" He comes to fold his arms and leans his elbows upon the table, an enhancement of muscles that made the view over breakfast all the more appealing.

"Ahh… but how do you know I can sing? You've never heard me; you're just going by what Alice said." She tears her teeth into a piece of toast, pointing it at him.

"Oh I've heard you. I spent all last night listening to you singing on that youtube thing…" He had no qualms with admitting that.

However he did feel a hit of alarm when she begins to choke, her confidence having been wounded, her eyes watering slightly as she assists herself by drinking back the small obstruction in her throat.

Satisfied she was capable of breathing, he allows himself to relax and bask in the crimson of her cheeks, no idea what to ever as to why she would be embarrassed.

"What you can spend time looking me up on the line and I can't do the same for you?"

Maggie is about to protest, and correct his reference to the internet as being 'on the line', but she is still far too dazed with mortification, her mind trying to process everything he could have seen, and thought.

Her hands are on her blazing cheeks and pulling them with, along with her bottom lip, "I was just… a kid. Messing around… being silly…" She attempted to explain.

Bucky reaches on over and picks up her fork, collecting some eggs on the prongs and drawing it to him before she can slap his hand in protest, "Odd because I'm sure there are video's on there only a couple of years old. And most of the video's you seemed to be taking the art quite seriously." He winks and fills his mouth.

"Well…" He begins speaking before swallowing back the floor and licking his lip, "There was one…"

"Oh god!" Maggie can't look, she wants to cover her ears, and actually she felt it would just be easier to escape the situation entirely, maybe via a hole in the ground. She would jump in willingly.

"Oh what did it go like?" He pretended to think but he didn't need to, he could see her and hear her now. "Oh yeah… Girl just wanna have fuuuun"

Maggie didn't know what to do, crawl under the table or die of laughter as she watched him try and mimic her by holding his hands up and bouncing his shoulders in the campest attempt at a shuffle dance she had ever seen.

While producing signs of humour and humiliation she decides to go on the defence, "I was eighteen years old, the song is epic, Cyndi Lauper is my idol and that is _thee _campest thing I have _ever_ seen a man do, gay men included… sure there isn't something you haven't told us? I mean I imagine all those nights at war with only Steve to cuddle up to…"

"Well…" He chews up his mouth, "They were cold, lonely nights…" He releases his mouth so he could push his tongue into his cheek, looking off all dreamy, while resisting the shiver that threatened to wash over his spine and give the act away.

"My god!" She laughs, he can be quite convincing when he wants to be, she hoped to hell it was all just an act. She was pretty sure it was, "I better call my sister, save her heart getting broken when she sees him starting to fly the gay pride flag instead"

"Mmm… well we'll get back to you explaining that to me more later, for now you are changing the subject." He reroutes the conversation back to her singing, well at least tries too because there is a buzzing noise floating around the apartment.

"Oh save by the bell." She jumps up eagerly, remembering Billy was due back and leaves him at the table to pick up the phone and buzz Billy in, leaving the door ajar so she doesn't have to wait or get back up to open it.

Billy was surprised to enter the apartment and hear laughing, most of it belonging to Maggie. Once upon a time it would have been him cheering her up, and yes it was still capable of it now but it seems he wasn't the only man present in her life, and while he and Maggie had a bond of friendship, he was becoming more and more aware of them breaking down each other's barriers, testing one another, their unexplainable depth of need to appease one another. And he didn't have a problem with it, actually it was quite refreshing to see the two of them bringing the best out in one another, but he was also aware that after this morning, Bucky might also be bringing out a negative side of Maggie she couldn't afford to possess. Okay it wasn't all Bucky's doing, he was well aware he had been taking liberties with her when it came to his Ma and everything else she does for them, but he could control that, put a stop to it. How do you put a stop to two people falling for one another? And should he even try?

"What's so funny?" Billy asks on joining the party.

"Oh nothing, just found out James is more of a Becky than a Bucky" Maggie laughs at her own joke, settling back down to finishing off her breakfast before it gets any colder.

Billy looks over to Bucky for an explanation, "Think whatever medication you gave her earlier went to her head." He offers, not delving into their banter before.

"Thank you Billy" Maggie looks up at her friend on a more serious note, but has a grateful smile. "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh give it a rest Mags, just knock it off what I already owe you for all the groceries and take outs you bring home with you after work and never let me pay you back for."

If Maggie tried to be stubborn they would just get in a fight of throwing money around, so she decided she would leave it for now.

Taking the last bite of her breakfast, her stomach warms with satisfaction, "Well I'll just go and get ready. Then we can head on back over to yours. Your poor Ma will think we've forgotten her." Adjusting her robe, she stands and grips the two on her head that was becoming unbalanced.

"I highly doubt it. Anyway she won't be needing you today, I'm going to take over." Billy announces, making Maggie stop in her tracks.

"What do you mean? I need to do…" it suddenly clicks for her. "Oh no Billy, no you don't. I'm fine. Better than fine. You're not starting with all this 'you're doing too much' crap."

Billy shakes his head, "I'm not starting anything. It's already final. You're not doing it, even if you feel like you could run a marathon. I don't think you should be going to work either. Least not for today."

"Oh don't be ridiculous. What am I supposed to say to the duty nurse? Oh I'm sorry I can't get in today, I'm absolutely fine and feel completely fit to coming in but my friend thinks I should take the day off to sit around and do nothing?" She fails to hide her eye roll. "No Billy. Thank you for being concerned but…"

"You're not going." Bucky sits with his back to her, sipping at his drink, and doesn't even look up when he makes his declaration.

"Excuse me?" Her eyes drift to the ponytail.

He finally makes a move and shifts in his seat, elbow resting on the back of it, "You need a day off. You need to take some time for yourself, you need to get yourself some groceries, you need to sleep those black rings under your eyes away and you need to accept it because the sooner you do the sooner you can enjoy the relaxation time"

She really didn't like it when they as good as ganged up on her, and she could argue with them and they would argue back and it would all be exhausting over nothing, instead she leaves them there to assume what they will, but she entered her bedroom to make quick work of getting ready.

"She isn't going to give in easily" Billy states what Bucky is thinking himself.

"Oh I know. And I'm going to enjoy it. Now you get back to Alice" Bucky stands, picking up the empty plate.

"What? I think I should stay…"

"You might think you should, but you don't need to. I can handle a moody Maggie. You have Alice waiting for you, and need to take care of Roberta. I'll be back later." And he leaves it there; today he's going to be a man who gets his way.

Maggie looks at her face in the mirror, pulling at her cheeks, examining her eyes. She hadn't really noticed until Bucky had said, and she was annoyed that he had. Now she felt all conscious. She remembered what Julie, her boss, had said to her the day before, prying if everything was okay with her, asking if she was coping with work, mentioning she was looking tired. She hated that, she was a nurse, of course she was tired, but that was the job. She wasn't making mistakes at work; she was still on the ball with everything. Why couldn't people just let her be?

Well it wasn't anything a bit of tinted moisturizer couldn't cover up. Okay maybe not too well, but she looks a little fresher. She wasn't going to let this morning or her dream take its toll on her.

Just fifteen minutes later and she is ready for the day ahead of her, leaving her bedroom and wandering to the living room, looking around for her phone. She can't seem to see it anywhere. She can hear Bucky's voice from in the kitchen, but she assumes it is him and Billy discussing one thing or another.

"What have I done with that?" She glances around again. She had left it on the table this morning emptying her handbag and coat pockets looking for her pills.

"It's been really nice speaking to you too… I will I will. She's in the best hands."

She turns around on hearing Bucky's voice, wondering what the hell he was talking about, to suddenly spot her phone. It was lost within his mammoth hand, as is putting it down.

"What do you think you're doing with my phone?" She storms on over, snatching it from him.

"I've just had a really pleasant conversation with a Nurse named Julie, who didn't seem too surprised to hear you needed the day off. She seemed more than happy, and was glad we let her know early enough for her to sort out cover for you" Bucky speaks effortlessly, as thought it was the most normal thing to be saying.

Maggie on the other hand didn't think that way as you can expect.

"You did _what?_ Are you joking with me right now?"

_By god, he best only be joking._

Of course he wasn't joking, how the hell would who know who Julie was? She just stares up at him in utter disbelief.

"You have no right! No right what so ever to come in here and start dictating to me!" Her voice is slightly raised, but Bucky seems unfazed.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She looks away from him so she could get her contacts up to call work back up and correct what Bucky had done and tell them she would be in when they expected her.

She was just about to hit call when the phone is being snatched out of her hand, and after a few blinks her eyes readjust upon Bucky.

"Billy you better get in here now, before I commit murder!" She calls out.

"Billy isn't here. He left about ten minutes ago. It's just me and you, Sweetheart." Bucky slips the phone into his pocket, and she attempts to grab it, but he moves swiftly out of the way. She tries it a few more times, failing each.

"I can dance this dance all day, Sweetheart. Oh and just so we don't have to do it all over again, I also hid your keys and your shoes. So unless you want to walk to work barefoot, why don't you just do what's easiest and stop being a stroppy little madam and embrace the fact you are having the day off."

She was livid, absolutely livid and she wanted to wipe that smug look off his face.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Instead she makes a move on his chest, attempting to push him, but failing. Only falling into a trap of him taking a hold of her wrists and pulling her close.

"I'm the guy whose chest you were sobbing your helpless little heart into only an hour ago" He lowers his head, so she can see the seriousness in his eyes, without mistaking it for anything else.

Maggie's whole body is vibrating, allowing her eyes to remain challenging him, "Well I won't be making that mistake again, will I?" She clenches her fists and despite his restraint she managed to punch his chest.

"Good, I'm glad!"

Bucky hadn't meant for it to come across how Maggie's eyes seem to take it. The rage within them disappearing behind a blink, replaced with… pain.

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**See ya soon. You know what to do *Nods to comment box***

**Danielle xx**


	18. Chapter 18 - Something In The Water

**Hey all, so being as the next few chapter are going to be focused on one day I'm going to try and get the chapters out to you sooner. **

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing, Bucky owns me.**

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**CHAPTER XVIII**

Rejection had never been something Maggie had dealt with well, perhaps it came down to the fact she could never deal with it at all. It angered her, upset her, and made her helpless to that violence steak she couldn't quite contain. That might help you understand why she ended up standing by the sink of a collection of dirty dishes, taking a hold of a plate, she is turning and releasing it at force across the room.

There had only been one target, Bucky. Her aim was a little off however, but it did not hit wall, or the ground, it didn't hit him either. No, of course it didn't hit him. No, he just had to go all Ninja on her and catch the damn plate.

"Maggie… has anyone ever told you that you may have anger issues?" Bucky places the plate upon the table.

"Ughhhh!" She growls, her eyes lost within the emotions that take over her rationality.

Bucky catches a bowel, a mug, a wooden spoon and finally a pan that had been housing some water. She might have been a terrible shot but he quite enjoyed the little challenge and work out. At least he had known his reflexes were all intact, even if he was covered with any remnants of egg from the pan, and the water that had been soaking it off.

"I'm guessing you aren't going to be happy until you hurt me?" He brushes down the soggy mess upon his top and the front of his pants, the rest of it having landed on the kitchen floor.

"You think I want to hurt you?" She narrows her eyes.

All Bucky can do is allow his eyes to lead hers to the small neat pile of dishes that sat on the table and click his tongue again teeth, letting them do the contradicting.

If he didn't know she was doing it because she was hurt by what he had said, he would definitely be laughing. He had to keep the smile under control. After all, she must have liked being in his arms if she was to get so upset at the thought of him not.

"Will you let me explain now?" He takes a cautious step forwards.

She folds her arms across herself in an act of surrender, "I think you've said enough"

"I have to disagree" He speaks before she finishes her last syllable, copying her stance all the while taking just that one step closer.

"Well of course you do" She wears a tight, stubborn, forced, and unbelievable irritated smile, which only loosens his will of keeping his own under wraps.

Her eyes are down as she told the tip of her tongue. She is well aware she is being extremely immature and behaving like a spoiled brat, but if she could help it, she would be. Okay no, if she wasn't so stubborn she might be able to help it.

She was behaving like a fifteen year old girl and as he comes to cage her in against the sink, and she twisted her head repeatedly away from him as he cranes his head several times in order to get her to look at him, but she is putting up a fight.

"Look at me" whispers Bucky.

She refuses.

"Look at me!" He whispers again, his tone still soft but with a more of an urgency.

Maggie swallows hard, knowing how close he is, but remains disobedient.

"Fine. I'll talk to your ear, it might make you listen better anyway" Sighing heavily, letting his head fall forward.

"When you said you wouldn't be making the mistake of letting me… comfort you again, I wasn't pleased, whatever it may have seemed like. When I said that I was glad, I just meant… I would be glad if I don't have to see you upset." He attempts to explain.

Her eyes twitch, glancing out of the corner, "Isn't it usually someone upset that you comfort? You wouldn't necessary 'comfort' someone who is already happy…" She points out.

"Good point. Okay… I just don't like seeing you upset. That's all I meant by it. No more, no less. But when it comes down to it if you need me I'm going to be here." He straightens his back, and let his arms fall back by his side, "So, am I still an ass?" He lowers his head again, still wanting to look at her and have her look right back at him.

So maybe he hadn't completely rejected her after all, and perhaps she got the wrong end of the stick, and behaving in a manner that would be deemed by any normal person to be worthy of being widely avoided. And yet he was closed in on her, he was persistence, and he didn't seem at all angry.

"Yes…" She answers his last question, and slowly etches her chin back to face him. "But maybe… not a complete ass. Maybe like… one cheek" Her stubborn façade breaks, and cracks the concrete frown she'd been wearing.

"One cheek huh? I think I might be able to live with that." The right side of his mouth is spread up onto his facial cheeks, feeling the positivity returning to her.

"Mmm… Well I can't live with the smell… you stink" She wrinkles her nose, as much as she enjoyed her breakfast, the remainder of it down him with the water made him smell like a sewer.

"Well you only have yourself to blame for that."

"Me!" She lets out an high pitched, short laugh, obviously not willing to take blame. "You were the one that rang my boss. Which… I am still pissed about by the way" She pulls herself away from him, side stepping around him and picking up the dishes off the table.

"Of course you are, you're always pissed at me about something." He was overly blunt today, and confident in calling her out.

"Well that's because you're a man, the only thing you are good at is getting in the way" She nudges him with her elbow, making a point of shifting him out of her way from the sink.

"Funny, you seemed to think I did a good job of making you breakfast this morning." He arms himself with a towel to assist with the washing up, but instead of her being appreciate she uses a fork in a threatening manner to lure him out of the way so she could open the dishwasher.

Bucky looks to the machine, "What's that?"

"That my friend, is a dishwasher… and unless you go and take a shower ASAP I'm going to start testing if it's big enough for a person"

He has to laugh, "Always so brutal and threatening." Watching her wash down the dishes before placing them into various compartments of the machine. However he could really use a shower.

"You know… you better still be here when I get out. I'll know where you are, and I won't think twice about throwing you over my shoulder or dragging you back by the hair"

"And I'm the threatening one? Mr Caveman." She lifts the door of the dishwasher by her foot, "Just go and shower. Leave your clothes outside the door and I'll put them to the wash."

He decides to do as he is told before her eyes start turning red again, and before he gets another whiff of himself.

"Oh and condition your hair after you shampoo it. It looks like you're waiting for birds to come and set up home" She calls out with yet another insult only this one was born out of her selfishness. She couldn't really imagine running her hands through his hair when it was such a knotted mess.

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Uh the bottle… next to the shampoo" She calls out to clarify, "Just put it on your ends." She goes to the door and watches him wander down the hall, muttering her instruction to himself.

She stands and nibbles at her thumb nail for a moment, trying to recall if there was anything embarrassing in there for him to find. She'd already took out the laundry, she didn't have any of her smalls on the radiator drying and she knew there was clean towels, she had absolutely no idea what he was going to wear when he came out. If she was cleaning his clothes would he just be left with a towel? That might be an enjoyable problem.

Turning her back she averts her attention to the kitchen and giving the work surface a little wipe down and just busying herself from letting her mind wonder to the naked man occupying her bathroom, who she was rapidly becoming increasingly attracted to and boy it sucked. She wasn't stupid; to get involved was a recipe for disaster but even putting the attraction aside he was of great importance to her.

She hadn't realized just how lonely she was. She was constantly surrounded by people but none she would consider friends, she had Billy and her sister but other than that she wasn't exactly an easy person to get to know, yes in some aspects she is quite outgoing but in others she never truly opens herself up. And it wasn't a recent occurrence born from a bad breakup; she had always been like it, so many arguments were had because she hadn't told him something, it could have been anything from where she had been to refusal of opening up completely about her family or the darker patches of her past, which she never had any intention of revealing and never had.

It could have been that that had driven him away; yes she had loved him and trusted him but now she realized she couldn't have done so enough. If she thought about it, there were some things she had delved into more with Bucky than she had ever dreamed doing with Matt, in comparison with the time span.

Her thoughts were brought back to the world by a click of the bathroom door and she looked back down the hall to see the door closed and a small neat pile of clothes upon the floor. She had noticed he was quite particular with things like that. Even if she had come to do some washing at Billy's, among the laundry she would always know when something was Bucky's because he was still fold them. Everything he touched was left as though he had not even been there. It wasn't like Alice who had definitely got OCD, his was just habit.

Outside the door, with the clothes clutched in her arms she leans ever so slightly into the door hearing the water running and a creak of the stubborn shower door closing.

Stepping back she turns and walks away, only glancing back once. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to see other than the door, maybe she wasn't looking for anything to see at all, it was just a moment of satisfaction for her. Knowing he is only just behind the door and isn't planning on going anywhere soon.

She bungs a few of her own dark items in the wash with his clothing. She still couldn't get over how forceful and determined he had been before, even calling up work. Yes she was still annoyed but the fact she was going to get time to spend with him made it a little easier to forgive. He could be quite forceful when he wanted to be, it was just shame it wasn't in the way Maggie would prefer.

Anyhow she goes to her bedroom to get changed out of her tunic and rummaging through her wardrobe for something to change into. She did pull out a blue maxi dress and hold it up to herself, she'd completely forgot she had it and a smile forms on her face as she sways the skirt. But then she remembered why she didn't wear it, she never went anywhere to wear a dress, even a casual one, and she hardly had reason now - To just lounge in her apartment. So the dress was returned back to the wardrobe and just took out the usual jeans and tank top.

Loosening her hair from the band, she tips her head upside down gives it a ruffle and a scrunch before whipping it back again, a moment of dizziness quickly passing as her eyes refocus on the mirror and her mane of waves falling with a bit of bounce and volume. Putting on a dramatized mimic of the usual hair care adverts by swaying her head and pouting to herself in the mirror.

Laughing out Maggie smears her hand across the mirror and shakes her head only this time out of humour for her parody.

Maggie freshened up her appearance a hint of eyeliner, a few strokes of mascara and a small layer of a nude based lipstick. With pats to her cheeks she lures out a tinge of pink and feels a tad bit more comfortable with her highlighted features which help to hide her bags.

Bucky couldn't help but make comparisons in showers, everything looked that little bit more up to date which gave it an advantage with cleanliness. Not that Billy's was dirty; it just didn't have the freshness of this one. It didn't have the smell of coconut, or the hint of lemon from her body wash. The coconut came from her shampoo and he knew the smell, he had smelt it linger on her before. This morning even when he's had his nose buried in her hair, while she had fisted the back of his clothing in her desperate little hands.

She had needed him, despite what Billy had said previously, and having seen her upset he was glad he came and was around.

She'd been right about the stuff for your hair, it was still knotted and he feared pulling too hard for what it might trigger, but there was softness there and after he climbs out and looks to himself in the mirror, his hair is long, it isn't that much shorter than Maggie's. Perhaps it was a little stupid now; it had been something for him to hide behind. It did offer an element of comfort knowing he still could if needing to, but he wonders if he should have it cut. He always had it shorter before when he was free in the world. But he wasn't that same man anymore.

Giving himself a quick dry with a towel he realizes he has nothing to put on and he didn't think Maggie would appreciate him wandering out in his birthday suit. However he does see the robe in which Maggie had worn earlier, bright purple and fluffy. He snorts to himself, thinking himself ridiculous but he could put up with feeling daft to save Maggie any embarrassment of having himself on full show.

"Very fetching, Barnes" Mumbling to himself as he shakes his head and pulls it around him as much as he could. Despite her being tiny compared to him, he was surprised the gown didn't drown her with its size.

Leaving the bathroom, he looks down the hall back towards the living room and can't seem to see her, but from behind him he heard a sound like a door closing and he wanders towards the noise.

"Maggie?" He reaches her bedroom door that sat just a little open.

"Uh… Oh you were quick. Hmm… I'll be out in a minute" She sings and Bucky chuckles, going to turn away and wait for her in the living room, only a drift movement in the bedroom stops him.

It was a mirror, a freestanding one that is angled in the corner by her bed, but it is the reflexion that captures his attention.

From the slit in the door he could see her, but it was more what she was doing that drew him in. She was now wearing jeans and had been wearing a vest top, but his breath is taken by the sight of her shedding it from her body. He can decipher a sound of frustration, but he has to admit he isn't too interested in her noises; he's rather too preoccupied by the way her flesh is calling to him. By the hugging of her jeans against her curve of hip and the dip of her waist. The groove of her spine and watching the way it works perfectly to her body as she moved, even just slightly, it disappearing under the fixture of her bra.

He pulls his eyes away as he sees her turning slightly revealing wonderful lace coated mounds, closing his eyes was a bad idea because his mind was simply forming their own visual of what they may look like without hidden behind any garment. Somehow he felt more guilty of thinking of her like that than he did actually prying on her through the door.

That's how he explained his resistance to himself as his eyes drift back, drinking in her milky skin, blemish free apart from one small circle of pink at her waist. He wondered if it was a birth mark, wondering why it needed to be on her flesh. His fingertip beginning to feel a tingle of longing, an urge to reach out and touch her; see if she was as soft as he was imagining.

It was the thought of what it would be like to feel her flesh trapped beneath his that awoken him to the arousal that began to stir beneath the robe.

She wasn't his to be thinking of her in such a way, she wasn't anybody's. But it didn't mean she could be, he wasn't stupid. If it had been seventy years ago there wouldn't be anything stopping him. But then he would never have known her for the woman she was now. And the woman she was now deserved more respect than he was giving her in that moment, being a peeping tom and behaving like a school boy.

She was everything positive in his life right now and he wasn't going to screw that up because he fancied her.

Nodding his head in silent understanding, he silently moves away from the door, leaving her to her privacy.

However for Maggie her privacy had been disturbed, she hadn't seen him, and as she looks to the mirror there is nothing there, but her body was still alive with the possibility he might have been. But her ears could have been playing tricks on her.

Even if they weren't, and he might have seen something or had just been lingering there - she too believed herself not to be stupid, if there was any attraction on his part it all came down to him being a man. One who had been long without the 'company' of a woman she believes. It was just his freedom to act on his testosterone that he may have been banished from for a long time, all another way for them to control him.

She was well aware she was nothing more than average with her looks, maybe sometimes if she had reason to dress up she might even consider herself to be pretty with her features still holding onto their girlish charm, but she was far from beautiful. As for her personality, well that was a little erratic, yes she was giving and aware of her caring nature, but she was also conscious of her anger, after all not long ago she was throwing pots and pans at him in the midst of a tantrum.

_God I'm so screwed up. Who does that?_

_Because you are irrational._

Quickly pulling on her on blue blouse and buttoning up the front as she works her way to the door.

"James?" She calls out, finishing her last button and walking with a little more speed behind her feet.

Bucky hearing her calling to him with a more alert tone to her voice stands up from where he had just that moment sat on the dining chair, believing there might be something wrong.

Maggie's feet halt when she reaches the opening of her living room and is greeted by her guest who had helped himself to her dressing gown and the usually dark clothes manly specimen was all wrapped in pink.

Irrationality;

Maggie's irrationally just went wild with absolutely incomprehension desire, her paths to him clear with nothing obstructing her from what she wanted and with that dived in at the deep end out of her depth and drowning in the world of lust and selfishness. His arms catch her with such precision and need of their own that only matches hers as her mouth divulges to him her secret longing as she kisses him powerfully, his warmth suffocating her under his spell.

After the initial surprise his mouth would reflect her desperation and begin giving and silently telling her this is what he wanted. He wanted her as much as she wanted him and not just because he hadn't held a woman for so long but because everything he was, outside and in needed her and not because she was the only thing close enough to settle those cravings, but because she was the one that caused them. The only one, and in a sea of women it would be her he chose and no other. No other would he hold so tightly but gentle within is tree trunk arms and run his metal fingers up her spine beneath her clothing and bring her body to life in waves of heat and goose bumps. Goose bumps of the best kind.

Driven mad with yearning, his lips weren't enough and she lay claim to the whole of his mouth, applying her tongue to the kiss and her hands pulling open the gown from the tie upwards to reveal everything manly and gorgeous about his upper body. Her hands searching it and claiming it all for herself, wanting to leave no part untouched or tasted. Each glorious muscle, so defined and calling to her for the attention it deserved.

Her hands unable to touch every part of him at once, but making the most of what she could, letting her mouth drift from his lips to explore other parts of him like he had in her dream. His whiskered jaw, his sloping neck to his collarbone.

"I need you. I want you" Her gasps caused only by him scooping her up effortlessly by the thighs.

"Take me. I don't care what it will mean. Just take me." She would plead with him to possess her take from her what he will.

But that is what she would have done.

She would have been in his arms right now, giving into temptation, and begging for him to have her, and right now she would be waiting for him to make his discussion. That would all be happening right now if her behaviour was completely irrational as her moment of madness before in the kitchen.

It just so happens though that she does have some form of control over herself, and she finds herself within reality with her feet still on solid ground by the hallway and him there with a perplexed expression, waiting for some explanation as he waits by the chair, still wearing her gown.

"Maggie?" He inquires, noting she had been quiet for a reasonable amount of time, enough to make him wary.

Maggie brings her hands up and drops her face within them and begins to laugh. Her daydream had only been fleeting and she was flushing slightly but him just standing there in her dressing gown just tipped her over the edge and her laughter and grin was uncontrollable.

"Wh… what the hell… are you wearing?" Her words are muffled through her hands and light hiccups as she peaks through her fingers, squealing out laughing again because he really was wearing her gown. Him, the one person on this earth she would never imagine in this situation and god, she was so glad she was getting to see the sight.

"What? Pink not my colour?" Bucky looks down at himself, playing along and even gives it a sway.

With her index finger under her nose and another arched over the top she pursed her lips, attempting to control her resistance against snorting.

"Gorgeous… just… gorgeous" And her resolve fails her, bringing her hand up to wipe away the water in her eye. "Come on Becky, how about I braid your hair and paint your toenails, I have the most adorable pink to match your outfit. Maybe even some false lashes" She flutters her own, while her childlike glee isn't all put on. The idea of him in false lashes sure made her forget about her fantasy moments ago.

The same goes for Bucky, his 'issue' was returning to it dormant state, "Isn't the lashes just going that tad bit too far?" His smile anchors up the right side of his face.

"Lucky for you I haven't got any, else I'd have you pinned down right now" She turns and walks away from him before she can see that smirk he always had when an innuendo arises. Back in her bedroom she finds a comb and walks on back to him, and he is eyeing her warily, wondering if she wasn't joking about everything.

"What are you doing?" He even takes a step back.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to make you into the gay best friend I've always wanted." She stands behind one of the chairs and taps the top with the comb, "Sit."

He isn't convinced, what is she after?

He doesn't even have to voice his thoughts, "I'm going to comb your hair, get the knots out. That's all… I swear" She holds her hands up, she sees his caution pass by his eyes as his hand goes to the back of his neck.

She knows he isn't worried about her braiding his hair; he is worrying it might trigger his fits. God she wished she knew what caused them, but to find out they would need a hell of a lot of information. Information that could only be gained by going across enemy lines. She had wondered if maybe she could sneak him into the hospital, give him a CAT scan, but she wouldn't know what she was looking for even if they did somehow manage to give him one. And she didn't trust any of the doctors enough to put him in their hands.

"James, you can say no to me, but if you don't… I promise I won't hurt you." Her eyes sparkle with genuine care as she holds out her hand to him, like calling a child to take its first steps.

He nods, and steps forward, he doesn't take her hand. And he chooses to focus on her reassurance rather than the hint of pity. He would say it was solely for her benefit that he feared having a fit, but the truth was he didn't want one. They hurt like hell and the aftermath… well he just didn't want to have to go through that.

"I know you wouldn't hurt me." He sighs and sits down, letting her do whatever she felt necessary.

Gently she frees his drying locks from the collar of the gown, smiling to herself at the softness. It was in better condition than hers, despite the knots. She was almost envious.

"God it's so thick. A lot of women would kill for hair like this." She holds the hair near the root and begins to carefully loosen the hair with the wide-toothed comb, pulling as lightly as possible and telling him to tell her if she hurts him.

"I think I'm going to be okay Maggie. You don't have to baby me so much" He speaks but can't look behind him, he just closes his eyes now and again when he feels her fingers against his neck or scalp, feeling no threat, only enjoyment.

"I don't mean to. Probably the one person I don't need to baby but the one person I feel…" She shakes it away, "Never mind"

"No" He protests wanting to hear what she has to say, "Tell me. C'mon, it's just me. You can tell me anything"

She chuckles at that because she couldn't quite tell him everything, but she could tell him this, "I just mean… if it came to it… and you were hurt… I probably wouldn't know what to do and I hate that but…" she wasn't about to let her dream invade her mind again, "You already know what I'm like; you see how I wrap Billy up in cotton wool."

She halts with the comb half way through his hair, "Which leads me to needing to say sorry. I shouldn't have thrown things at you before. I promise I'll behave more rationally from now on. My temper just gets the better of me sometimes and it's not… pretty"

He sits there and smiles to himself and bows his head in a nod just the once, "Nah, I actually thought it was quite amusing. Not the part of you being annoyed with me but, the other part was a good work out for me. I haven't had real reasons to check my reflexes of late"

"Well they seem to be intact" She rolls her shoulders, lightening up.

"So come on…" She aims to spark up a new conversation, "You know my love for music. Yet I have nothing on you. What's something you're good at?"

"Good at? What you mean apart from everything other than singing?" He turns his head just lightly, and she flicks his crown with the comb.

"Okay okay," he takes on board her warning, "Always been a pretty good shot. Had a sniper gun in my hand before I could even spell my name."

Frowning to herself she hadn't exactly meant that, "Okay. But that isn't necessarily something you did for yourself. I mean… what did you do to escape all that. Something that helped you relax, a talent you already possessed without someone necessarily teaching you how to do it?" She pushes him to think a little harder and open up that little bit more.

He has to admit he is a little distracted by her fingers running through his hair, but she offered him a way of looking past that and testing his memories of when he was a child, or adolescent, there was many things he did. He loved getting into mischief, fooling around with a straight laced Steve, pretending he was a part of the army and was need as much as all the soldiers. He remembered watching his father clean his weapons, take them to pieces and rebuild them. He was doing that in the speed of any soldier by the time he was eight and his father died. But she didn't want something like that, she wanted something more… personal.

"Okay… I might have something. Uh… Steve and I, when we first became friends I wasn't really having schooling, and he was always smart. He basically taught me to read. I always just preferred pictures and I liked to draw. We had that in common – drawing. One day when we were like twelve or thirteen we were fighting over who got to look at the newest comic strip in the newspaper. Comic books weren't really that popular then, but we loved the strips. And this one particular day we saw this advert in the paper, a competition to win five dollars and the best comic strip to be published in the paper. Well back then, it was the depression, five dollars was a lot of money, and we were convinced we could do it and would become famous." He snickers, lost in his memory and Maggie is just hypnotized by his voice and his story, wanting to know everything she could.

"So we set to making this really short story and did all the drawings ourselves, came up with this story about this kid who dreamed of being a superhero, ironically, we thought we were really smart we had him collect and build these massive wings out of old newspapers and wire… and of course miraculously they worked… don't ask me how, but he flew off and helped some damsel and named himself 'Paper Boy'. We were kids…" He felt the need to make an excuse as he hears Maggie's musical giggles.

"Did you win?" She asks.

"Nah, but we were runners up. We were guttered at the time, but we got a couple of cinema tickets out of it. Snuck in to see Scarface and made ourselves sick with candy. We were convinced the adventures of Paper Boy were going to be a hit one day. We continued drawing and making the stories up, a few of the guys on camp would read them in exchange for bullet shells and we would make holes and turn them into a necklace with some string, sell them to the kids around and about, bullshitting they were from guns of gangsters, or cops, what soldiers had been shot with and dug out their flesh. Quite disturbing…"

"Quite?! Jesus" Maggie has so laugh because they were just childish antics but she could see he was a definite trouble causer.

"Nah it wasn't real, but boys went mad for that sort of stuff. Steve always thought it was a bad idea, pure at heart and all, not too pure that he failed to stop himself from enjoyed spending the profits."

"You were con artists basically"

"Nah, just enthusiastic kids doing their bit for society" He snickers.

She snorts, "You were damn crooks. Here's the world idolizing you both and truthfully your scam artists"

She had finished his hair a long time ago but she still finder herself grooming him and its therapeutic for the both of them.

"Well… desperate times and all that." His shoulders bounce lightly, "And don't behave like a saint, I'm sure there are things you've done as a feisty thirteen year old" He assumes, and he does correctly, without even an answer he knows.

"Okay… maybe I once stole a bottle of alcohol out of the cupboard and me and a few friends got completely hammered, one of the girls had stolen some cigarettes. I was green for a week after. My mum grounded me, and my dad was always a soft touch, until he found out they were two boys with us and they were a year or two older and smoking pot - he erupted. I'd never seen him so angry before. He could never really handle either of us having a liking for boys. He was the stereotypical protective father over his daughters" She remembers with fondness.

"What do you think he'd say if he saw you now? Would I need to be testing my dish catching again?" Bucky looks over his shoulder to her, and she is shaking her head and smiling.

"I don't think so. I don't know really… Kate and I would have worn him out years ago, he'd probably be glad for us to be taken off his hands" She says the words but she didn't believe them.

"There you go" She decides to stop combing his hair now, it was drying rapidly and if she didn't stop now she would be doing it all day.

"I find that hard to believe" Meaning her dad, even though he didn't know him. He didn't think anyone would be glad to have Maggie out of their grasps, especially not a devoted father.

He lifts his fleshy hand and runs it through his hair, nodding his appreciation, "I should probably have it cut. Keep you from calling me Becky again"

"No!" Maggie's disappointment pours out of her in protest, before she remembers herself and clears her throat. "I mean, your hair you do what you want with it."

_Don't you dare cut it! _She speaks to him in her mind, it doesn't transpire into his however.

She distracts herself with cleaning her comb of any hair, while Bucky manages a discreet smile to himself, her protests made her seem as though she was quite fond of his hair. It's quite surprising to him as he thought she would think the hair stood for something he was rather than he is. Or maybe that had just been his way of thinking.

There is a beeping and she is aware it's the washing machine, "I'll just go and put them in the drier" She hurries off, leaving Bucky to his own devices.

She might not be able to control her thoughts but she really needed to be careful with what she was saying.

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**So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave me a comment *Bats lashes***

**Danielle xx**


	19. Chapter 19 - A Little Piece Of Heaven

**Firstly, thank you everyone for the reviews. I love them all. Secondly, I am sorry... well no I'm not... yes I was teasing you in the middle of the last chapter and I just couldn't help myself. I'll try and make it up to you, soon enough ;)**

**Now go and enjoy!**

* * *

**CHAPTER XIX**

They'd settled back with a drink while they waited for his clothes to dry and she listened dotingly as he seemed to open up a lot more about his memories of his past and the mischief he would get up to and drag Steve down with him. Hearing of the two of them seemed like a whole other world away from where they were now, but there was no denying that she could see a twinkle and he missed him.

She tried to put herself in his shoes, knowing her own relationship with Billy and the obstacles there relationship had faced, it was barely nothing compared to that of Bucky's and Steve's and yet she'd hate to think she was ever in a position where she couldn't turn to Billy and vice versa, like Bucky felt with the two of them.

After his clothes were dry however he announced in his new found obstinacy that they would need to go and get some groceries, and then when they were to come back he was insisting she got some real time to relax and maybe even sleep. She was never one for sleeping in the day but she humours him.

"Isn't all this strange for you?" Maggie asks him as they enter the superstore, "You know, a few weeks ago you're sneaking around doing all sorts of secret…" She was trying to think of a word.

"Assassinations Maggie, that the word you're after. I know what I was you don't need to tiptoe around it, Darlin'" His velvet voice is regretful in some aspects but truthful that he saw she was nervous about mentioning it for his benefit rather than his own. Sometimes he wishes he could talk about it to her, wonder why she doesn't hate his guts.

"Okay… but isn't it weird to know you've gone from that to pretty much a mundane life that consists of coming shopping and pushing a cart around" They enter the superstore, knowing the vastness of the store isn't going to carry her voice.

"You think it's mundane? It's my freedom Maggie, I know I don't have to be here if I don't want to be. And I do… I do want to be here." They share a tender look and pass of smile as she leans into him just slightly, more than happy with his answer. Just that niggling of hatred that is always in the back of her mind and pit of her stomach, wishing she could hurt them that took his freedom away from him. She would take it very slowly and as brutal as her mind could come up with. And that was the truth.

"Okay, so being as you have that, maybe you should pick yourself out some clothes. Rather than me second guessing what you want." Maggie leads the way to the men's clothing department and he just follows.

"You know I have no money. And there is no way I'm going to keep letting you spend it on me, when you're wearing yourself out to earn it. I have clothes. Why don't you buy yourself something instead of worrying about everyone else for a change" But his suggestion is just met with her waving off her hand.

"I don't have financial issues, James. I work because I want to, because I need to. Not necessarily for the money. My Nana and great-grandfather were kinda founders of… you know…" Meaning SHIELD but there is a woman within earshot, "And my parents didn't do badly for themselves… so… shut up" She nudges him once again.

"Oh so your loaded? I might stick around a little longer" He jokes, and she scrunches up her face at him and sticks her tongue out just a tad.

It was a peculiar look, but one that had him chuckling.

"Maggie these t-shirts are like eleven bucks." He fiddles with a tag.

"Exactly, a bargain. Things have changed since the 'good ol' days'. Now save me the energy of arguing with you and just picks some things out. And if you feel that stubborn I might be able to find a few light bulbs I need changing in the apartment you can do for me in return"

That attempt was pathetic, they both knew it but it wasn't too pathetic that Bucky continued arguing, he was supposed to be chilling her out and so he gave in, promising he would find some way of repaying her. He had absolutely no idea how and with the lack of money he couldn't exactly buy something but he was a determined man, he's come up with something.

The clothing didn't take up much of his thought process; she did get irritated with him when he just kept nodding to anything she picked up in suggestion. At the point he put more effort into his choices and he was grateful but he was just happy to move along. He hadn't been in much close proximity with so many people for a while, so he was on edge more than usual and Maggie hadn't failed to notice. She simply went with it, keeping him talking and his mind active upon her and everything she attempted to divert him with.

She leaves him taking a gander at DVD's, slipping off down the stationary section while he is preoccupied and she manages to return quite quickly and slips the items into the chart before he notices.

"What's that?" She asks.

"Oh nothing, just looking" He places the DVD back on the shelf, seeing it was a box set of Game of Thrones.

"It's good, I have the box set at home. You can take it with you to Billy's to watch when you have nothing to do." She smiles and takes over the chart, "Now let's just get some food else we'll be in here all day."

A little while later and they find themselves down the confectionary aisle where Maggie is in her element stocking up on cookies and everything else bad for you, but everything she loves, she had her arms full when she spots a familiar woman at the end of the aisle pushing her chart with a little girl sat in the child seat. Maggie freezes and turns around abruptly into Bucky's back.

"No. No. No. No. No." She murmurs to herself, pouting and huffing, bouncing on the spot like a child.

Bucky looks around to catch her mini tantrum and eyes her strangely, "What's happened now?"

She pushes the cookies at him and he struggles to catch it all. "Hide me" She ducks behind him. "Woman and child twelve o'clock. We need to avoid them"

"Who the blonde girl?" Bucky looks on over seeing a woman walking to her child and he hisses slightly when she pinches him quite harshly. "What's that for?" She was turning weird again.

"Fake blonde, and come on, before she sees. Oh god she is looking over. Why do you have such a big mouth?" She manages to resist the urge to stomp on his foot, instead opting to act oblivious and nonchalant.

"Excuse me?" He laughs at her implying he is the one with the big mouth. "What's the issue?"

Maggie pays the shelf extra attention as she speaks out the corner of my mouth. "That's Matt's wife. My ex. The one he was going with behind my back."

Bucky looks right on over to her, his expression perplexed, "Her? He cheated on you with _her_?" He knew the man had been insane in the first place but on seeing the girl in person he was quite sure her ex had to be blind. What a complete tool.

Maggie is giving Bucky a sharp elbow in the ribs, before it was too late they had made eye contact, she was wandering over, Maggie plasters a surprise forced welcoming smile, keeping up pretences that she had only just seen her.

"Hi Amber," Maggie's voice bitter sweet, but as natural as possible as she makes a polite hello. She knows the woman isn't about to want to be stuck in the awkward situation herself.

"Maggie, Hiya. How are you?" She returns pleasantries.

"Really well thanks, just getting a few bits in you know?" Maggie hopes to god Bucky had put all the sugary treats in the cart, out of sight.

"Yeah, lovely weather and being stuck with the shopping." Her throaty chuckle is short and forced, as the little girl starts asking her mother for her attention, "Yes Alannah, just the one pack of sweeties." Amber looks up and gives a playful eye roll. "Kids and sweets"

"Aww she's lovely. I can't believe how big she is." It was the truth. She and Matt had been broken up over three years ago, so the little girl was just under that, being as Amber had been in the last stages of pregnancy when she had found out the two of them had been screwing. And not only screwing, he had gotten her pregnant eight months earlier.

"I know, they grow so fast. Feels like only yesterday she was born." Amber is speaking but she is looking straight past Maggie to something more of interest behind her.

Maggie looks behind, Bucky just standing there attempting to look busy but he is listening in to everything that is being said.

_Keep your eyes off, Bitch!_

Bucky had noticed there was an awkward silence between the two, and could feel eyes on him now and again and they didn't belong to Maggie. This woman had caused her heartbreak, he was sure for a long time she might have wondered what it was about her that he had preferred, why she was so special compared to her. What made her good enough and worth it to destroy what they might have had. Not only that be he had gone on and married her, and he was guessing the kid was his too.

So Bucky acted, and he didn't give it a second thought as he stepped forward, his metal hand tucked into his pocket while the other reaches out and takes a hold of Maggie and tucks her under his arm, "Sweetheart, not going to introduce me?" He toys with her hair while Maggie shifted her eyes on up to him.

His smirk spoke volumes; she was still coming to terms with the action and his fingers in her hair, her face beginning to blush. He wanted to play that game, come to her rescue. She had a split second to make her decision and she didn't need it. She leans on into him and wines an arm around his waist.

"Uh… oh… uh yeah sorry… baby. This is Amber. Amber this is… James" She bites her lip and looks up at him all doe eyed. "My boyfriend" She looks back to the girl. Oh my god this was so ridiculous.

"Fiancée" He corrects her, and she snaps her head back up to him with wide eyes, but has to remember her place and plasters the smile back on her lips.

"Jaaaames!" She complains, "I didn't think we were telling anyone, yet" continues in not so accidental loud whispers.

"Well I just can't help myself. I'm the luckiest guy on the planet. I'm going to spend my life with the most amazing girl in the world." He looks down at her, lovingly.

Maggie might have thought he was laying it on a little bit thick, but she was quite hypnotized and her glee wasn't all forced. He might be saying it for effect but in that moment she didn't care. She just loved how he was looking at her, but then some bitch has to spoil it.

"Oh wow… congratulations." Amber's voice is as convincing as her smile. Before her she sees nothing but two people madly in love. He is absolutely gorgeous and he obviously idolized her. She also wonders where she went wrong.

"Thanks." Maggie doesn't look over.

"Well I better be going. Things to do. Nice to meet you" And Amber begins to move past them, murmuring to her daughter something about her daddy, but Maggie is too busy burying her nose in his chest, concealing her comedy.

"You're terrible!" She lifts her head ever so slightly just to see him, staying right where she was in his arms but gives his abs a little poke.

"Maybe, but you're glad I did it. Aren't you?" He chews his grin as he looks down at her, and she can't help but grin back and nod.

"You know you're a good actor" She brings her hand up to pat his cheek.

"You too"

Both of them were aware it hadn't been a complete act, but they didn't know the other thought that way. Their blindness was as cliché as their little façade.

Loading the trunk of the car up with the shopping, Maggie thanks him for what he did and feels the confidence to lean up and kiss his cheek. It was only brief and it was mainly lead by her gratitude rather than anything else. For him he would wear an internal smile for the rest of the day he was sure of it.

He was quite enjoying getting some time with her alone, so much that neither of them were ready for him to leave, and when they got back to her apartment she assured him that she wanted him to stay and that he wasn't keeping her from resting. She was still capable of enjoying some relaxation time with him here, more so because it would mean she wouldn't be alone and there is no way that after this morning her mind would rest if she was on her own.

He kept encouraging her to eat and she made a bargain with him that if she was he would join her and let her back something for them. Both of their pale skin and need for fresh air was what leads them up to the roof. A small area that had been converted into a garden space, which had been the whole selling point to Maggie when she had bought the apartment. She loved being outside but regrettably of late she hadn't had much chance to do so, so she took the opportunity now, and the two of them sat at the small patio table, with a quick thrown together chicken salad and Bucky was relishing in the air and freedom of his surroundings.

"It's quite something up here. Like something from a dream" His eyes wander around to the mounds of terracotta pots, housing arrays of flowers, shrubs and herbs, the wind picking up the scents and allowing them to give the whole area that earthly summer aroma, there were a few bee's but they were too busy lavishing in the amounts of plants there was to offer. It was colourful and bright and he could feel the vitamin D soaking into the flesh of his arm and cheeks and he looked across to Maggie who was as equally comfortable and at home here, the sun pinking her skin and dawning out a few freckles upon her nose.

"I know. I love it up here, usually throughout the day nobody is up here, and so many people are wrapped up in their lives downstairs they don't really come up. I used to spend days and nights up here doing my studies or just with my guitar. But I've barely had chance to be up here recently, I forgot how gratified I feel when I'm up here. Like the whole world could melt away and I wouldn't know… I feel more at home up here than I do in my own apartment" She looks around, her lips upturned as she tucks her hair behind her ears.

"It's good to have a place to escape. It isn't half as nice scenery in Billy's basement but I get it… I think sometimes I would go nuts if I couldn't go down there. And I don't mean to get away from Billy or anything like that. It's more to…"

"Get away from yourself?" Maggie finishes his sentence, and she's right.

"Yeah… but what have you got to run from, Maggie?" He sits forward with his elbow on the table.

She pushes and nudges a cherry tomato with her fork, "There are so many answers to that question. I spend so much time telling myself everything is as it should be, and part of me… has satisfaction for what I have. But then I wonder… is this it? Is this the person I am? Am I happy with this person, with the life I lead? I'm waiting for that one moment, that one decision I make, where no matter what happens, what it might lead to… I will never regret it. I will never wander if I should have done something different. To me it seems like 'thee' moment of my life I'm searching for. And I've only ever came close once…"

She doesn't usual speak this way, not even with Billy. And right now her only regret is that the person before her had witness darkness more than she could even fathom, but the way he looks at her doesn't give any impression of thinking of her as a whining and ungrateful soul.

"When? When did you come close?" He can't keep himself from asking. He wants to get inside of her head; he wants her to open herself up as much as she possibly can.

She doesn't mind him asking, she's glad he cares enough to do so, "The day I ran you over and took you to Billy's. It would have been complete if I only knew you then as the man you are now" She whispers and raises her eyes to him. Nor does she mind being able to be honest with him.

And right there and then Bucky is a man, and even for a few moments, his shoulders were free of the weights upon them and the ghosts that latched themselves onto his back. He was just a man, with a girl whose heart was so beautifully crafted that the beat of his own would never have felt or known the rhythm it now possessed because of her.

"I meant what I said before… I am lucky, despite everything, I have to be else I could never have met you. And you really are… the most amazing girl…" He shakes his head, "No, I'm pretty certain you're the most amazing _person_ I've ever met. And I will never stand back and let anyone tell you, or make you feel differently" The rigidness returns back to his body but it only born out of sheer passion for the words he speaks.

To Maggie, surrounded by a beautiful garden, a beautiful world and all the marvellous and breathtakingly astonishing sights in the world could be right on her door step right now and she would not know or have a hint of care, because the only thing capable of owning her vision was him. And she might not believe it herself for self-esteem reasons but she believed him, that he meant it. Never before had she felt so special and appreciated and it took over everything.

Her body begins to shake and crumbles and the water spills from her eyes and she rushes to try and brush it away, and trap a sob in the confinements of her mouth.

"Shit!" Bucky's chair scraps across the ground, around the other side of the table by her side and on his knees. "Fuck! Shit! I'm sorry…"

Waving her hands in a frantic bid to stop him from his worry, managing to swallow it back and turn to him.

"Don't… nobody… it's the nicest thing anyone… has ever said to me." Her words are a mumble of sniffles and joy and she wants to pinch herself. "You're deluded, of course" She hiccups, and reaches out her hand, "But the greatest thing." She places her hand to his cheek, eyes gracious with a wholly transcendent delight.

"I mean it, you soppy mess of emotion" He raises his own hand to wipe away her tears, leaning involuntarily into his hand.

"I am a complete mess" She agrees with a watery smile.

"You shouldn't be crying. It's distracting you from telling me how amazing I am" He gives her a cheeky wink, because despite her being upset he could see that they were good tears, but they were still tears and he wanted to do all he could to erase them.

Her hand leaves his cheek in order to wipe her nose and exhale a quiet chortle, "Oh so you're just looking for a compliment back?" She was well aware he'd been joking. But he was amazing, and she would have told him there and then if it wouldn't have looked by she was just telling him in return for his beautiful words to her.

She remembers the bag she bought up with her, from grocery shopping. Gripping his hand from her cheek, she lets them fall to her lap and remain there while she reached behind her to retrieve the bag.

"This is going to look pathetic after what you have just said, but… I got you something." She holds out the bag to him, and he frowns and let's go of her hand in order to take the bag. "It's nothing much."

"You don't have to get me anything, you already bought me so much already" He said, but the truth was he was too intrigued as to what it might be, and he wasn't wanting to seem ungrateful.

"Shh, like I said it's nothing much. Just after what you said before…" Maggie explains as she watches him empty out the bag, and his metal stems catch the A4 spiral top binder of cartridge paper and a small tin of sketching equipment. "I didn't know whether you preferred to draw with pencils, graphite or charcoal so there are a few pieces of all of them in there. I thought maybe you might sometime want to do something for yourself, see if you still enjoy it"

Bucky flicks through the pad of paper like a flipbook, seeing the corner of each fresh sheet and having no idea what to fill them with, but the possibilities were endless. He was positive he would fill them.

"Thank you. You keep giving me things and I have nothing to give you in return"

He was giving her plenty in return, more than what any amount of money could buy, plus "I don't want anything in return, James. You're here… looking after me. That's more than enough" She pats his arm, and he diverts his attention to her gift and returns to his seat to take a look.

Maybe there was something he could give her. Something that wouldn't cost him a thing, and yet hopefully she might appreciate.

"Okay… but let me draw you" He looks up at her.

Her brows knit together, "Draw me? Don't be silly. I would never be able to sit still long enough… or quiet enough"

Well they both knew the later was true, "I'm sure I'll manage just fine, I used to do things more from memory anyway. Come on, you can relax. Have you got a book or something you could read? You can get yourself comfortable over on the sofa" He nods his head over to the wicker like base of the couch, with thick off white waterproof cushioning for comfort.

For him this could work out quite well, killing a few birds with one stone. She could enjoy the sun while resting, he would have something to do in the meantime so he would have an excuse not to leave, as well as spending a lot of time just being able to watch her without having it seem creepy; learning where each lock of hair landed, each lash that curves and fluttered against her cheek, how her nose twitches and wrinkles now and again, wanting to examine her lips and how each muscle leaves every smile just that tiny fraction different and unique.

"Jaaaames" She complains, she likes the thought of him wanting to draw her but it made her self-conscious.

"I'm not hearing it Maggie. I'm not afraid of making you." His look of warning a great mask for his jesting. His eyes shift to the sofa, pointedly, wondering how long it would take for her to give in.

As it turns out not all too long, she grumbles for a moment or two, something about looking a mess but Bucky doesn't even both wasting his breath with her nonsense.

"So what kind of drawing of women are you used to doing? Are you going to ask me to take my clothes off?" She makes a joke, thinking of a similar setting in Titanic, however she wasn't as eager as Rose to take her clothes off before him, but then again she hardly had Kate Winslet's figure.

"I'm sure your neighbours would love that" Bucky points his pencil to the building opposed that stood a few floors higher than this one.

He watches her awkwardly sit upon the couch, one minute she is sitting with her back up straight with her hands sitting properly on her knee's, she must realized she wasn't all too comfortable, so shifted position and went for a more alluring approach and lounged back, legs parted and finger in her mouth. Despite her efforts, even Bucky found it hard to find such a pose to be enticing and laughs it off, telling her to be serious.

She huffs and puffs, fidgeting wildly so much that even Bucky finds his eyes begin to roll.

"For the love of god, just get comfortable! I don't care how, just chill out, take a breath and imagine you've just had a long day at work, flopping down on the sofa." He direct her, and there is a few more grunts on her part before she closes her eyes trying to imagine his scenario, and lose the stiffness she felt out of knowing what is coming.

_But it's just him; you can feel comfortable with him._

Taking a deep breath she allows her body to shape to the sofa, bending her knees around and tucking her feet behind her, lounging back with her elbow rested on top of the back cushion and resting her temple upon her hand.

"Will this do?"

He nods, "Don't you want something to do? A book?" He hadn't drawn in a long time and he had no idea how long it would take him.

"Yeah, I'll read my book. It's in my top draw of my bedside table. You can take the dishes down while you're at it" Smirking over to him, it actually feeling good for him to be on the receiving end of her demands for a change. "What? I can't move, I'll lose my position. I'm supposed to be resting after all" She bats her lashes.

So she made a good point, leaving him with no other option but to follow through, and to be frank he didn't mind, he was actually glad she was asking him to do something for her.

Plus it gave Maggie a moment or two to shuffle around a little, get the dance out of her bones before he returns as well as titivating her hair, scraping it back on her right side that would be facing him, revealing more of her neck and adding a shimmer to her lips from the lip gloss in her pocket. She isn't sure how it was supposed to enhance his drawing of course. She wasn't really thinking her actions through completely.

"What's it about?" Bucky asks, not five minutes later after he returns with her book and having placed any dishes into the dishwasher before coming back to the rooftop to finally get the chance to put pencil to paper.

"It's really good…" Figuring he was speaking of her book, as she lets the book open at the marked page and sit upon her knee. "It's about this nurse from the 1940's who ends up travelling back in time to eighteenth century Scotland. She's just had to marry this guy Jamie, who is a total dish and I have a new fondness for the kilt wearing Scotsman."

Bucky amusingly shakes his head and flips open his pad, "Aye, weel we this du it for ye?" The left side of his mouth peaks, almost like an Elvis impression and he is too busy sharpening his pencil to see the look of astonishment in Maggie's eyes, and the way they begin to water.

The only reason he finds out that his attempts at a Scottish accent are received with anything but applause, was by the amount of giggles coming from her direction.

Looking up, she is thrusting her head from side to side, "That! You sound like a pirate you Dufus!" A crackle projects from her nose, her humour having to escape somehow.

"Whit yer talkin ebout? A dinna unnerstan" He continues, feeling his own entertainment taking its toll and rupturing his seriousness and his belief of being able to produce a good Scottish accent.

"Stop it! I'm supposed to be serious! You're killing me here!" She rubs her ribs, where a stitch is beginning to twinge.

He just grins over to her, the look of mischief dominating its motives, "I'm not doing it for you then?" turning his pad landscape.

"Unfortunately not, but keep practicing. You never know" She winks and shifts slightly to find her comfort once more. Maybe the second time wasn't so bad, maybe not bad at all and maybe there was a flutter in her stomach but it was still strange to hearing the unusual twang to his voice. He didn't need to speak with an accent to do it for her.

"Right, stay still" He instructs, gripping the pencil in hand and getting the two reacquainted and pushing the nib to paper, letting his hand copy the vision of his eyes, lightly drafting out her figure and the base of the sofa in order to get the correct proportions. He had been worried that he would find it difficult and there might be something missing in his head that would keep him from the natural ability, but it all came back to him like a duck to water. It probably helped that he had a lovely scene to transfer to paper.

"You know, I'm believing in your skills right now. Don't go making me look like Quasimodo" Maggie speaks although her eyes stay affixed to the book.

Despite her usual fascination with the literature before her she was finding it hard to concentrate when she knows he is looking at her, his eyes roaming over every part of her so he could get the picture right.

"You'll just have to wait and see" He laughs off her negative comments and takes another glance at her, beginning to sketch a little more in depth her facial features, wanted to get them nothing less than perfect. Sometimes he could be a perfectionist when it came to himself. Maybe it was part of being raised by the army, them always wanting one better from you.

"So how many girls' hearts have you tried to steal by drawing them?" She just can't help but talk, it wasn't because she felt awkward with the silence, but she still had so much she wanted to know about him. So much for them to discover and very little time completely alone to do so. They were both relaxed and at peace in each other's presence that they wanted to make the most of the opportunity, Maggie more so.

"None actually. I've never been around a women long enough if I'm being honest." His answer surprised even himself never mind Maggie. He wasn't shy of women in his past, even with the era some might have considered him to be a ladies man, but never had one been a long term fixture in his life. Never had he clung to them or made promises, he'd never seen anything through the long term, or met a girl to which had made him want to. At that stage in his life he had everything he needed, settling down was never something he had craved or desired.

"So no girl ever stole your heart?" Why shouldn't she ask? Maybe there could be a woman still possessing his heart, and despite her hoping otherwise there was a chance. Plus he knew about her past with men, why shouldn't she be nosy?

"Every single one of them. Least I thought they did. But maybe after all it wasn't really my heart I was giving" The words had already past his lips and he couldn't take them back.

Maggie scoffs and shakes her head, "I'm sure not! Ass!"

"Bring your chin a little back towards me" Bucky tells her, her reaction having caused her to lose her position, but with a few small instructions they are back on track.

"I didn't mean it… that way." Okay maybe he had a little.

"I'm sure. I guess women weren't all that protective over their virtue in those days after all" She resists glancing over to him.

"I think after the Great War, so many husbands and lovers lost, and then the impending war looming, everyone started living a little more in the moment. Plus… I wasn't so bad. I wasn't just out for… well…" He paused, wondering why they were having this conversation at all, "I appreciated them, and we'd have fun. I was quite charming back then, and… whatever happened, happened" He sniggers just slightly as he hears Maggie humming in disapproval.

"Oh don't behave like a mother Teresa. I've observed the way people live today, women also. You can just be as bad as men" He waves his pencil at her, even though she cannot see.

"Well… we all have needs." Her pupils flicker, just for a tiny glimpse of him pausing from drawing and cocking his head momentarily. This wasn't a good conversation to be having at all.

"How well did you know my Nana?" Maggie shifts the conversation, unsure of her motives to why the particular subject of her grandmother. As a youngster she wasn't all too interested in the stories, but now, now she was. Maybe it was because with him being around she felt that little bit more of closeness to the history.

"Peggy? Uh…" He brought himself back to the paper, glad that she had moved on from more personal and perhaps intimate subjects, "well… we worked together I suppose… I didn't have much of a chance to get to know her. Her and Steve were always sniffing around each other, and when they were, they were oblivious to anyone else within a mile radius. But I know she was a strong woman, determined. Of course she had to be to have achieved all she had. It wasn't something you came across, taking orders from women. Especially in the army. I don't think she was all too fond of me. We were perhaps both a little too opinionated and thought we knew that was best."

"Oh that was my Nana alright. Not many people would dare stand up to her. From what I can remember of my grandfather and all I have heard since… he was very much in her grasps. She wore the trousers. Knew what was best for everyone, and wasn't convinced easily, otherwise. She mellowed a bit I think, but my dad always scare me when he told me I was just like her. He used to say the only people who had ever scared him were my nana, my mum and me. I never understood why I scared him." Her eyebrows draw just that little bit closer together, still not completely understanding it now.

"Oh I can see that, and understand"

"I scare you?" Maggie looks to him, and she couldn't scare him too much because he is giving her a warning look and pointing for her to look back down.

Bucky doesn't know how to answer that. Yes she scared the living daylights out of him, but for more what she does to him, and how she makes him feel, but he couldn't go blurting that out, so he compromised.

"Well let's just say I should have made the connection before you told me she was your Grandmother. She didn't necessarily scare me, but for a woman like yourself to be so feisty and fearless at all the wrong times, you aren't someone you necessarily want to say no to" He makes a start on her nose, its slender roundness with just a tiny hint of sharpness to the tip.

"Yeah right, today has proved the complete opposite. You haven't let me say no to you all today. You can't be that afraid" She points out.

"Maybe… but I'm not going to stand back and let you make yourself ill. Whether I fear your wrath or not" He smirks down at the parchment.

A tut and a groan mingle into one, "I am not making myself ill. There are people out there, working two, three jobs then having to come home and look after their families, cook, clean."

"Yes well I don't know those people, or care about them like I do you so moot point" He denies her the ability of weaving her way out of it. He was glad she didn't think she was making herself ill, he was glad to see her relaxing and the paleness in her cheeks attraction colour, but he was protective of her. She might not be in any immediate danger by working hard, but maybe a selfish part of him, just a small part had acted on providing them with the opportunity to spend time together today.

As for Maggie she can learn to bite her tongue and accept what he is saying, and most of that reason came from the caring comment. She knew he cared about her, but she still appreciated hearing it now and again.

"Anyway, do you think… Steve and your sister…" He speaks suggestively, and Maggie dare not move to answer but she cane flicker her eyes up from the book.

He knew what he had seem, and he remembered Maggie implying this morning that her sister may have feelings for him, but he couldn't help finding it strange now knowing who she was. She was Peggy's granddaughter, it wasn't anything to do with the age, how could he have a problem with that when he was in the same situation with Maggie. But he had never felt for Peggy, and he was sure Steve loved Peggy very much so. He dare say after he saw the notebook at the grave he still was, so how could he be forming feelings for Maggie's sister, knowing who she was.

"Yes. I know my sister and I know when she has hot's for a guy. But what makes you ask? Have you seen something?" They both look to each other now and he has no intentions of telling her off. For the moment the picture could wait.

"I… they… no not really but I know Steve. At least I think I do. I went to see him…" He pauses seeing her reaction and jumping in to reassure her. "I didn't show myself. I just watched from the roof of the building. How I saw you that night… anyway, I couldn't hear them obviously but they seemed to be… a little awkward around each other. Like there might be an elephant in the room…"

Maggie might be looking at him, but surprisingly he isn't what she is seeing, being too wrapped up in the thoughts of her sister and Captain America. What they must be thinking. She had tried to brush it off, thinking it to be ridiculous but now with Bucky's words and what she had seen and heard herself, the niggling feeling couldn't be ignored. No matter how much she wished it.

Looking down, she doesn't do it out of returning to position, but just as another way of thinking and processing.

"If they are… there has to be something wrong with him! My Nana… my Sister!"

"Excuse me?" Bucky feels this sudden urge to defend his friend, "Wrong with him? Let me tell you, if something is happening I highly doubt he knows who she is. Whereas she knows exactly who he is"

"Of course he knows who she is, for S.H.I.E.L.D she goes by Carter… she never really wanted to tell anyone who she really was but of course they know… so he would know… right?" Only feeling uncertain by the end of her reasoning.

"Maggie how many Carter's is there in the world? If she hasn't told him do you think he would go searching for it? Steve might be smart, but when it comes to women… nothing will change. He is oblivious. And if he does know… then he will be fighting it the best he can be. Avoiding it even, he wouldn't be living next door to her…" At least the Steve he used to know wouldn't.

"Then what the hell is she thinking?" Maggie thinks aloud, "I love my sister but god sometimes she can be really stupid." Suddenly she had to laugh, because it dawned on her that if Kate knew how she was feeling for Bucky, or just that they were acquainted with each other she would be thinking the same.

"What's funny?" Bucky can't help but ask, unsure of what she finds so amusing.

"I'm just thinking… My sister would think I had completely lost my mind if she could see me here now… with you."

His only true functioning hand lets the drawing equipment leave his hand for a moment to look up to her. He didn't think there would be many people who would think she was in sound mind if they knew.

"And she would have reasons for concerned knowing what the people at S.H.I.E.L.D know about me." He ducks his head, not out of pity, but out of truth.

"Yes well they don't know you like I know _you_." Maggie speaks instantaneously; wanting to abolish any darkness and doubt that crept into his mind. "They know nothing."

"They know enough…"

"Don't… please!" Maggie becomes abrupt. "I'm not… I'm not stupid… I know things, things you have done. No! Things they made you do, made you become. I'm not naïve Bucky, and you aren't a monster, the monster they might think you are, the one you still believe yourself to be sometimes… I do see it in your eyes you know? You have very telling eyes."

"Ironically, it isn't something I can just forget." He reveals.

"Nobody is asking you to. But don't imply I should see you any other way than I already do. I don't care what they think, I never have, and never will. All I care about is here and now… and you finishing this damn picture so I can go and pee" Her need to lighten the mood and pee springing upon her.

Bucky's chest vibrates the once, and nods, "Go to the toilet. It can wait for a few minutes."

He always marveled in her way of seeing the world and the situations closest to her, especially the one that revolved around him. She saw him as a man, but maybe sometimes she was naïve. Whatever bond she felt with him did affect her reasoning's and rationality, but he also couldn't help being thankful for it.

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**There is chapter 19, 20 is coming up next :) Please leave a comment :D **

**Danielle xx**


	20. Chapter 20 - Stars & Stripes

**Hey all my gorgeous lovelies! So we've reached Chapter Twenty! YAY!**

**Just hope you guys are still enjoying the story.**

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**Disclaimer: Bucky owns me but unfortunately I don't own him *Sniffles***

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**CHAPTER XX**

"Give me your arm" Maggie asks of Bucky.

The two of them were now back downstairs; it was growing later now with the high summer sun in the twilight zone before being tucked in bed, and having left a chill in the air.

Bucky hadn't finished the picture completely, also being persistent in keeping Maggie from seeing it until it was finished. But he could finish the last bits from his memory because her sitting there all that time unmoved, with the sun beginning to drop had left her feeling cold, and despite her protests of telling him she was fine, the small shiver in her voice had been the only thing he had heard.

So now she had just come back from her bedroom with a bag of something and sat on the sofa behind him, where he was happily sitting on the floor leaning back against the couch. He was enjoying being able to spread out his legs, having been sat in the small cast iron chair on the roof for long enough.

She had managed to eat three square meals, and although dinner had been takeout pizza, he hadn't tried at all to change her mind, she needed a bit of fat on her bones, plus he had actually been craving something less on the healthier side of the chart, after having realized a couple of weeks ago his new favourite food had been pizza.

But for now he is confused but lifting his arm anyway, "No… this one" tapping the steel with her knuckle, looking up to the TV having seeing the first ever scene of Game of Thrones begin upon the screen with a man who looks remarkably like Matt Damon about to get killed.

Bucky looks up at Maggie in wander, "Don't give me that look. Just trust me, and watch the TV" She tries to pull up his arm but it isn't until he complies that it actually moves and lets it rest along the sofa with her.

She begins rummaging through the small cosmetic bag full of nail varnishes, finding the colours she required and seeing him looking at her once again.

"The TV" She turns his chin, "And no peaking, you aren't letting me look at the picture yet so you aren't allowed to look at what I'm doing either." Patting his cheek, before shifting to cross her legs and rest his arm across her lap, and lets her get on with whatever weirdness she is up to now.

Opening the blue nail varnish she leans down and with her tongue hanging out for concentration she begins her own art work by literally painting him.

He can't resist trying to take a peak now and again but as soon as his head moves just a centimetre her hand is pushing his face back and sometimes he does it just to irritate her to which she threatens him with a pair of tweezers to which he gets the message and concentrates his attention upon the screen and the million and one people that were being introduced, most of them bizarre, some nuts and a couple of others who weren't shy at taking their clothes off and well they were women.

And one in particular who happens to have rather sizeable breasts and well they are breast. He hadn't quite seen anything like it in a long time and it was just a television show. He wondered what on earth they must be thinking for them to display themselves in such ways for a show. He wasn't a prude, not at all, but felt that perhaps this wasn't the right situation for there to be a naked woman on the screen.

"Oh…" Maggie just happened to look up. "Oh yeah, I forgot. Lots of sex and naked folk" She reaches out and covers his eyes, "Not for such innocent eyes" She can feel his heavy breath on her hand and her eyebrows form a little hop. "Or maybe I should give you some privacy" He pulls at her hand.

"I think I can just about manage to control myself. They've left now"

"They've left? Honey _they_ aren't characters. But good to see which part of the show you're showing the most enthusiasm for" Shaking her head, seeing the funny side. She wondered what it must be like for him.

_No Maggie. Why on earth would you wonder that?_

He wasn't an alien, she was more than positive he had seen a pair of boobs before, plus she was pretty sure women in his era had the two of them with a couple of nipples to go with. She'd never actually understood men's fascination with them. Of course she enjoyed a man paying hers attention on the rare occasion that she might have the company of one, but she will always wonder why.

"Why are men so thrilled by boobs?" She blurts, because apparently her brain filter has completely abandoned her.

"Pardon?" His nose erupts with a snort.

"Uh…" Well she'd already asked now and he had definitely understood her, so she sucks up her inner confidence, "Men… who first thought… I used to suckle on my mother's nipples as a child and now I want to do the same to some girl I find attractive because it turns me on?" She dips her brush back into the pot, while he is shuffling against the sofa, laughing.

"No come on… isn't that just weird?" She is now fully invested in finding out.

"Only as weird as a women enjoying it from a man but then nine months later having your baby on the end of them."

"That's… that's…" Maggie attempts to come up with a reason as to why it would be different, but she is failing. "Okay Wiseass. But I still don't get it…"

"Well we don't have them. People always want what they haven't got or can't have" The explanation came from the top of his head because he wasn't sure what else to say, well he could say what he really felt but for risk of sounded like a pervert he didn't.

"Mmm maybe"

_Wow she is really gullible._ Bucky thinks to himself.

"Same goes for woman and their liking for a man's… area…" He isn't sure why he couldn't just say penis, they were adults, she was a nurse for Christ sakes.

"Uh… actually no that isn't always the case"

"What?" Maggie has destroyed all hopes of his argument and also damaged a little bit of ego.

"Women… a lot of us think penises are ugly looking things" Maggie didn't seem to have a problem with the word, as she cranes her head back down to continue with her painting.

"Well you'd be lonely without them" He becomes defensive, wondering what had been put on the pizza because he was sure this isn't a conversation two people of the opposite sex might have.

Maggie resists for obvious reasons from bringing up the invention of sex toys, for the sack of having to explain that. That might be tipping the subject matter over the line into the awkward zone.

"They can't be that bad. I don't believe I've ever had a complaint…"

"Oooookaaay!" Maggie cannot help but find it hilarious that he is so defensive. "Someone has an alpha male streak and thinks a little too much of himself" Pausing from her painting to recover the steadiness of her hand.

"I didn't say that… I just mean that I haven't. But come on then… what does attract you to a man?" He inquires, wondering how much aspects of his looks might take part in her type.

"Aren't you supposed to be watching this?" She tries to deter him.

"I am. He's an illegitimate son, He's going to that Wall place and his father is telling him the next time they meet he will tell him about his mother" He reel's off the previous scene that had just played out to prove himself.

"Wow… a man who can concentrate on more than one thing at a time. Marry me. Marry me now!" Maggie sniggers, despite her failing to prevent his continued investigations into her type of man.

"I'd want a better proposal than that!" He scoffs and she pokes his cheek back into place.

"No come on. Tell me… plus I can't help trying to picture your moron of an ex. Because of now all I can come to the conclusion of he must be blind, deaf and dumb"

"Aww… I feel touched" She places her hand to her chest, accidently dabbing herself with the blue nail polish. "I wouldn't say I have a type. Of course I found him good looking, he had all his senses working, and well at least I thought he did. I guess he was your average guy, took pride in his appearance, maybe a little too much sometimes. If we were doing a gig he would take longer than I did to get ready. I suppose now… I prefer a man a little more natural…"

Well Bucky had completely failed on the first hurdle because there wasn't much natural about him anymore.

"I want a real man. Not some heavyweight champion or some arrogant bastard like those men who walk as though they are constantly carrying rolls of carpet under their arms - just someone manly. The rugged type, a lot of girls have a problem with stubble… I don't mind it at all. Makes me think they must be more mature somehow, rather than some pretty boy. Like Steve for instants, he's obviously fit and all, and seems really lovely…"

We have to take a brief pause in what she is saying for Bucky's sake who didn't imagine the conversation would turn into how she thought his best friend was attractive. Perhaps it was a Carter woman thing.

"But…"

Oh he liked the sound of but…

"Nah… I mean he looked better with the facial hair when I saw him last…"

_Oh give me a break girl! _One minute he's feeling reassured, then the next she was going back on herself.

"But he's still too pretty. Plus blond haired men… nahhh" She shakes her head, remembering a guy she was seeing a few months ago and what a complete moron he was. Not because of his hair colour of course but something had put her off,

"No offense" Remembering that he was his friend after all.

"Oh its fine" He wasn't offended in the slightest. Why would he be offended in hearing she didn't find his friend sexually attractive? He was elated.

"Actually scratch that…"

_What? No… you aren't allowed. You've already said it now. You can't take it back!_

"I would make the exception for Thor, being as he is blond. He's… well… he's in a league of his own"

"He's a god!" Bucky knows exactly who she is talking about, "And a pretty boy. And too… Where art thou… bullshit" Yes he is beginning to wish he had never even asked, and the tone of his argument has Maggie grinning to herself because he couldn't see. Maybe she might have been testing his reactions a little.

"Well he can take me home and make me his goddess any day" She chews her lips as she can hear him grumble to himself.

"Well maybe your sister can organize for you two to meet" He stares, with his jaw locked and eyes fixed to the screen, even though he had lost all concentration.

She can't take it anymore, her giddiness overcomes her and she is erupting in hysterics all of the positive kind and she had enough confidence to call him out of it too, "You know… you almost sound… jealous maybe?"

His head is turning, but she doesn't have to worry about him seeing his arm, his eyes are too alive with trying to find protest. "Why would I be jealous? For me to be jealous would imply I have romantic feelings for you, is that what you're implying? Because if you are, that is a big assumption, an assumption a woman like you who usually lacks that air of overconfidence to be so abrupt. That's like me saying I know you find me attractive."

But his words meant absolutely nothing because the positioning of his lips upon his face spoke volumes.

"I do think you're attractive." Maggie words ejaculate, and it is only after hearing the words back to herself that she understands what she has said, and needs to explain herself and quickly, "I'm not blind. You're a handsome guy, and you know it despite everything. But unfortunately…" She sings, "Your personality… lets you right down…" She likes that she can wear a smirk, that she can take the reins of poise for a while, even if the latter was a complete lie. But she isn't about to tell him the rest either, she wasn't that confident or urge to have herself be rejected once again.

"Yeah because you're always telling me my personality sucks" Bucky is being sarcastic, but he isn't insulted in the slightest. He feels a lot better, more than better for hearing that she finds him attractive. He wouldn't act on it. Despite every bone in his body wanting to just grab her and kiss her until her lips are blue, he had a surprising amount of self-control when it came to resisting her, and it was all born out of negativity. He knows that finding someone attractive isn't everything that is needed to sweep that person up and make them yours.

"You're not bad yourself you know…" He didn't mind admitting that, she definitely needed to see how amazing she was.

"Pppft… thanks. Don't go too overboard with the compliments will you?" She didn't want to hear the compliments, it wouldn't be safe. Plus there was a risk she would just turn into an emotional wreck again like she had before when he told her she was amazing. That was more than enough for her to handle for one day.

Thankfully by pushing his cheek back to the screen he knows that the conversation was over and she didn't necessarily want to hear anything else and switching her nail varnish for a white one and needs to concentrate now, and he allows her to, as he is happy just settled there allowing the events of the day run through his mind and all the twists and turns it had taken them. He couldn't help but feel as though things had progressed, and he hadn't felt as comfortable as he did now. Not only had he felt like the man he used to be, but more so today he had discovered a lot more about the man he was now and was still becoming.

And none so much as when he hears and even feels her blowing against his obnoxious bionic arm and she announces that he can finally look and he didn't waste any time in doing so.

"Now you're an American soldier again. Your true colours." She spoke once she had finished giving it one last blow in order to make sure it was dry.

The usually bold red star that dominated the top of the arm has been a mark, a stamp making sure he knew who he belonged to, who his makers were and who he would always have to answer to, but now, because of her beautiful creative mind the star stood for something completely different. She had ingeniously used a bit of her paint to leave only a few strips of red, in contrast with the patriotic colours. His mark of the enemy now a star shaped American flag.

They both knew that before long it would wash and peel off, but for now he had an insignia he was more than proud to wear, and once again it was all down to her. Realizing there wasn't anything she touched that she couldn't make beautiful in her own weird and wonderful ways.

"You know… you're turning me soft right?" He allows his eyes to drift away from his new crest up to her as she shifts to lay down behind him.

"Nah I'm not. You're soft anyway, I… we just give you an excuse to show it" Maggie pulls a pillow behind her head and shuffles a moment getting comfortable and then looking at his arm, and her own that lay beside it, they are completely different for so many reasons and she remembered at first how it had frightened her, but now it didn't. It just being there, him just being there. She felt safe.

"You think?" Bucky shifts around to face her more, but still keeps tabs on the television. "You don't like to see the darker side of people do you?"

Maggie elevates herself onto her elbows, "Yes I do. Because I don't constantly point it out and remind you… people of it, doesn't mean I'm oblivious. Yes I see darkness because sometimes it's that which makes people real. I see what I see, what people show me. That's how I make my judgements… I don't treat you like a villain because you don't behave like one. Now stop trying to make me think badly of you. It isn't going to work. I don't even understand why you would want it too" they both permit her fingers to glide down over his arm, in a bid to comfort them both.

"I don't want you to. But sometimes I can't help thinking you should"

Knee's bending and the muscles in her arms and back helping to pull Maggie up into a sitting position, she rest her elbow on her knee and then her head on her hand, "I get that nothing I say is going to make you understand or take any of it away, but what is hating you for something's you've done in the past going to achieve? Do you not think I wanted to hate you to begin with? I tried, I did. But this isn't about me, is it? This is about your own issues with the past and not accepting it…"

"How can I just accept and move on when I have killed people, Maggie? So many people. Maybe they were bad, maybe they weren't, to someone they were just someone's Mother or father, son or daughter; and I didn't even know why. I just did it. I didn't ask twice, most of the time I didn't even think twice when I put a bullet in their brain or in their mouth or throw their heart. Wherever I felt like aiming that day. I would return to my 'masters', I would receive a celebratory steak dinner. Sometimes I would go back into cry-o, sometimes not and would have another mission. That's all people were to me, a steak meal. Like you were waving it in front of a dog." Bucky suffered with his inner turmoil, disgusted with himself but keeping his anger at bay for her sake.

"It could have been your parents Maggie. It wasn't… but there is a good chance I have taken a devoted father away from his daughter. Someone out there with the same pain as you in their heart because they can't have their fathers shoulder to cry on anymore, or protect them when they need protecting or make them proud. They can't have their knight in shining armour, they can't have their father walk them done the aisle on their wedding day, they can't –"

"Don't…" Maggie whispers, feeling the prang of pain in her chest. The thought that what he said was true. How she had once thought about all those things and hated the world and life for taking her parents away from her. She had been naïve, maybe she hadn't allowed herself to think about it so in depth, and maybe it was plummeting down upon her now.

But still she found the strength to raise her eyes back to his, but did not have the strength to face him with hatred. She had to be strong. He was testing her. He was seeing how far before she would break, before the same revulsion that plagued his eyes were absorbed within her own.

She knew her heart was becoming weaker to him by the day, and she knew if she had any hopes of trusting her heart and judgement, she could not let his bitter truth break her.

"I close my eyes at night, and I fight it, but when the exhaustion has consumed me they're there, haunting me. I try to explain, make excuses that it wasn't my fault and I didn't know what I was doing. But I did, I might have had no memories, but I still had a heart, I still had morals and a conscience. I fought them once, just once. I said no. Once!" He held up a digit to back up his words.

"I didn't fear death, and I was too valuable for them to kill me. They punished me. They didn't beat me; they didn't put a finger on me. But they broke me mentally, and made it look so easy. I was supposed to be strong, I was supposed to be their weapon, but I was nothing but a child fearing them, until they got their way. Oh and I took it eagerly. And even though they wiped my memory clean I never went against them again. What does that make me?"

"Weak…" Maggie's throat felt like there were a thousand of tiny blades tearing her oesophagus to shreds.

And there he had it; at least he thought he did. He thought he had shone a bright enough light on that elephant in the room that she was being too blind to see, but now she could not ignore or deny its presence.

"It makes you weak… it makes you pathetic… it does. I will not deny that…"

He knew she was beginning to see the monster…

"But…"

_Why is there always a 'but' with her?_

"No matter what they pumped into your veins, what they turned you into and took from you… you were just human. And every single one of us has our breaking points. I don't know what they did to you and maybe it's a good thing I don't for I won't be able to control myself. But do you want to know the truth?" She moves closer, dark orbs penetrate into his. "I can't be completely sure because I will never understand what you went through, but I know my own weaknesses, and I know if someone used them against me it would only be a matter of time before I broke too. And you want to know something else? I would not be able to live with the guilt, face it every day like you are doing now. I would have put a bullet in my mouth.

"But you… no… you couldn't do that. I hate to say it, but yes maybe you've even thought about it, but you haven't. You haven't given up. You haven't gone back to them and begged them to take your memory away again. I could call my sister now, and we both know Steve would do anything to take your pain away and convince whoever to erase the bad memories. But you've done none of that. And you know why?" She takes her fierce hand and fills it will his jaw, her teeth gritted and eyes haunting and he has no power to look away or deter her from giving him her reasons, helpless to finding out what she must think, how she was incapable of fearing him.

"Because you know as well as I do you would not be the man you are right now if it wasn't for it all. And if the day comes when you feel like you will give up on yourself, I will not let you. Because that man… No, this man…" She lets go of his chin to take both of his cheeks in either hand, and shaking him just lightly to add further expression, "…doesn't deserve to be given up on. Not by me and definitely not by you."

At first her voice had been slightly risen, but by the end she knows that her whispers would still be heard as loudly as long as it was her heart that spoken them.

"It's okay to be weak. You can be weak with me" Her voice is but a murmur, but the distance between them is decreased by her lack of battle to bring her forehead down upon his, her slender fingers nudging and twirling at his hair and he is so close and so far away at the same time, that she cannot help but closes her eyes and silently willing him to believe in what she had said.

"I want you to be weak with me" She pleads for his sanity and trepidation to disperse along with his rationality.

She wishes to hold him there and feel his broad shoulders begin to sink, and the heaviness of his breath begin to ease as he would draw a mouthful of air and let it consume his lungs without silently choking on his hatred for the past that haunted every breath he took.

But it is not his breath that consumes her in that moment, but by the lack of her own as it is being seized from her in the finest way imaginable.

Bucky had taking the back of her neck, his hand so huge and masterful in its claim, but it is the touch of another part of him that leaves her gasping in sudden splendour. His mouth.

His lips hard and forceful, eager and crude with their devouring. His passion wasn't brought upon him by lust for the woman he takes, nor was it driven by the constant desire he has been feeling towards her recently. The act is born to allow himself to bare his weakness as she had so desperately pleaded with him to do so. Only Maggie never imagined his way of showing her would be to kiss her.

His mouth is strong and hungry as the muscles of his jaw come alive and begin to tighten his whole face as he suckles at her delicious mouth, like a starving child at the breast of its mother.

Their hearts are like hummingbird returning after a long winter, but Maggie is still suffering from shock, only seconds having passed since he has claimed her lips and she knows the truth of the kiss, that it was just a moment of clarity rather that his thirst for her. But her body begins to melt along with caring because all she could think about was the man latched onto her, and the tingling pleasures sweeping over her body from her curling toes, to the lips he owns and finding herself drawing her body into his own, her hands coming up to run away with his hair, feeling her fingers finding a sense of belonging, a soft gasp leaving her lips as she gives in to temptation and kisses him back.

It's feverish and clumsy, stolen and free. Whether seconds, minutes or hours past, they took what they needed until his head are close to exploding by the lack of oxygen, and even then they didn't feel as though it was at the top of their lists of priority. He'd have spent the rest of the night kissing her if he could. But he broke away, feeling the clouded mist in his mind begin to evaporate.

She had kissed him, and it was only now that he understood what he had done, and he brings to pull his forehead away from hers, but she refuses him.

Maggie's eyes were already open, "Don't you dare" She pants, her chest still heaving like he had been making love to her for hours, not just kissing her. Many love stories hold the cliché of a single kiss between the leading couple as being an awakening, the greatest kiss of their lives. In this story, despite it having lacked a tender touch, a sweet embrace of love, it was the same chestnut. Maggie had never felt anything like it in her life, and she would not have him pull away from her.

"I know… why. And I will accept any emotion when you open your eyes, apart from regret" Her throat is strangely dry, but she is too hypnotized by his lips, and the way her own still craved them, but knew she could not take them. But her fingers had minds of their own, and they could not help but smudge, trace and learn his lips for themselves, while her other hand holds his head to her.

Of all the things to do, of all the ways to show her and he had taken that path. And yet he could not regret it, even if he had handled her heavily and used her. But he could still remember her lips, he could feel them in her fingers, he could taste her on his tongue, and mainly how she had reciprocated.

"I'm sorry" Bucky opens his eyes, feeling the weightlessness of his heart lose its strength and the dense fogs of ghosts come back down upon it.

"Shh" She closes her eyes to steal those last moments of simplicity, before the world returned its realisms.

And how strangely that it came from moans, loud and heavy cries of passion, but none from either of them but from the TV screen.

Both of their foreheads roll against one another's in the direction of the distraction, and the spell is broken as the Lannister twins commit their most shameful crime.

Maggie ends up rolling her eyes and freeing his hair from her fingers, the moment having past. But Bucky begins to stare blankly until a puckering at his brow begins.

"Aren't they brother and sister?!"

And like that it was all gone. Their embrace nothing now more than a memory.

***T*C***

As the hour grew late, growing closer to a new day Bucky finally got what he had aiming to achieve all day. For Maggie to rest and sleep, and now after time of resisting looking at her he could observe the sleeping beauty as openly as he liked.

He had kissed her. She had kissed him back. And despite everything good and wonderful about it he knew he couldn't do it again. He plagued her life enough; he could not curse her body and maybe even her heart. He didn't want to be a martyr; he wished he could have her. For everything in his life he had been given and that had been thrust upon him; it would only be her he asked for.

Yet life and his stubbornness were not feeling all too giving. But he could steal a moment or two while he could. He could smile while he let his finger feel the ends of her red velvet mane, it as soft as he imagined. Her skin pale apart from the hints of pink to her cheeks and a faded clutter of brown speckles upon her nose. He takes a moment to imagine what shape they may produce if they were a childhood puzzle of dot to dot.

With silent humour, he shakes it away, letting his feet find themselves, and carefully raising her within his arms, heavy with sleep as her head nestles into his chest. He carries her to her bed, silently and without falter. He would have kept her right there within his arms if he didn't think he would wake her, so he lays her upon her bed, lowering her head to the pillow watching her be embraced by the softness of the mattress rather than him.

Maggie's breathing is low and steady, but the lack of those arms of safety has her emitting a short, pitched breath that some might say resembled a snore. Bucky has to smile on hearing the beautiful girl produce such a less then charming sound.

But before he could remove himself completely away from her, she is rolling onto her side, encircling his artificial arm and snuggling herself against it.

"Don't leave me" whimpers the voice of a child. At first Bucky though she was waking, but then a moment of silence is followed by another, she lays unmoved, unfazed until he is reassured by yet another soft snore.

Taking his time on deciding where to go from here, eyes searching the room as though it could offer assistance, but the only one he could look to for help was himself. And as his eyes prove their loyalty to the slumbering red head, he understands that it was not his decision to make. She had already made it for him.

"I'll be here as long as you need me" He murmurs as he carefully shifts himself over her onto the bed, lying behind her with his robust manufactures arm hooked over her to keep from disturbing the way she was clutching against it.

The arm would always be hideous to him, nothing would change that. But even he couldn't deny that she seemed have a strange fondness for it. He was well aware he would never understand the ways she thinks, he didn't want to. He liked being surprised.

For a long time everything about himself he hated was what people had craved and needed from him to cause chaos and destruction. He hated every single one of them.

However here there was a girl, doing the same, showing signs of need for worst parts of him, but when she claimed them, she did with the opposite intent.

For that he moved that little bit closer, holding her a little bit tighter.

***T*C***

When Maggie wakes up in the morning to the birds in chorus, she rolls over to find herself in the usually position of being alone in the bed, and after recalling all that had happened the day before there is a definite weight of disappointment.

Sighing, she allows herself to stretch out upon the bed, knowing he is gone but she would see him soon. But for the moment she realizes she isn't completely alone in the bed, as there is something crisp upon the pillow under her outspread forearm, and like any person is too intrigued to ignore it.

Her blurred vision begins to focus as she sits up and brings the thick paper in her line of sight, blinking a few times for the image upon it to register.

A glowing smile, still thick with sleep and idleness overcomes her face as she looks down upon the drawing, a charming and beautiful piece of artwork that almost seems magical with the picturesque surroundings, and despite the lack of colour holds as much life as her memory, but unlike her memory there is a girl at the centre of it all. She's wrapped up in the world around her, comforted and free looking with her hair blowing in the breeze, and she doesn't recall it having been windy when he was drawing her but he seemed to have included it in the image anyway.

Her face is fresh and almost beautiful to say it is herself and he had done an extraordinary job at capturing her well, but there is something about the face, not as though he had got something wrong, but seeing it must be how he sees her. And the girl was pretty and she smiles thinking he thought of her like that, that maybe she wasn't just completely ordinary to him.

She grins down at the drawing for so many reasons, as we all know; they all revolved around one person and one person only.

She was done for.

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***Pops my head up from behind the sofa* Yes they kissed, for real this time. But no this doesn't mean they're going to start boinking and planning a wedding *Ducks back down for cover***

**So I gave you a kiss, now be a sport and PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT can I make it loud enough? hehe!**

**Danielle xx**


	21. Chapter 21 - Closure

**A/N: Hey guys, Chapter 21 here. As always, I hope you enjoy.**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing, unfortunately.**

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**CHAPTER XXI**

Bucky had chosen to leave her apartment when he had heard life on the streets below. He hadn't come easy, there had been nothing he wanted more than to stay there, watch her wake, and hopefully see her smile when she sees him there. But those were longings he wasn't going to give in to. Luckily for him he had spent a lot of time acting against what he truly wanted, so he isn't completely weak to her.

He had only been gone half an hour before she woke however, he couldn't resist her that much. He had given her his word that he wouldn't leave her and plus she didn't let go of his arm all night, suppose if he really wanted to get away from her he would have managed to remove himself but he didn't allow himself to think too much about that.

But despite the hours he spent awake, just listening to her breathing and reliving many memories for most of which she plays a key role, he had never been so comfortable. And that comfort could only be resisted for a time before it consumed him, it just so happened that when he had drifted off into sleep, a sleeping Maggie still had active subconscious to feel safe enough to let him go, knowing he wouldn't be leaving her while he was unconscious. And when he woke up to find himself free from her clasps he knew she didn't need him anymore and took his leave.

Now he was back at the house, everything quiet with Alice's car still parked outside. It felt like forever since he was last here, and being here brought with him his rationality and the feeling of stupidity for letting himself kiss her. And from that he does his best to regret it. Forcing yourself to regret something isn't a simple task.

Rather than finding himself in the basement he takes his place beside an awake Roberta, he found he quite liked her company. He knew he didn't have to be careful of what he said; he could speak freely and not have someone speaking back. But despite her illness there isn't complete blankness in her eyes, he sometimes sees a gleam of understanding as though she understood absolutely everything he was saying.

"You're not as oblivious as you make out are you?" He asks as he gives her a little water and she just stares at him with heavy eyes.

Sitting back down when she is finished, he sits for a moment or two with chewed up lips, he spoke with her often about everything and anything so there was no surprised on the subject he was going to open up about now.

"You think I'm an idiot. Of course you do. Who wouldn't, of everything that is going on I'm spending most of my time worrying and thinking about her." He roughly scratches his chin in frustration. "For the first time in god knows how long, I'm doing something I want to do. I want to be here. And not just for her. But in the long run, I can't help but wonder what is going to happen. I'm tired of hearing myself to be honest. I can resist it… I can." He pushes his tongue into his cheek and rolls his eyes to himself.

He wonders what Roberta must be thinking, the way she just sits there looking and opening and closing her mouth as if she wants to say something, and he actually would like to hear what she would say. He never knew the kind of woman she was before but he had heard stories, mainly about how he had as raised Billy and her older son on her own and she had in her late forties when she had her Billy and how her oldest son had moved away and had family of his own and even a grandchild.

Her room was plastered in photos of her family she was obviously proud, yet he couldn't understand why they wouldn't be here, and only once had there been a phone call from Roberta's oldest grandchild, but apart from that there was nothing. He thought that to be ungrateful perhaps, he didn't know the ins and outs of why but sometimes he though it unfair on Billy but he'd never heard him complain.

"Things are different aren't they? The world got… ambitious. I mean it was back then too, but there was a feeling of being down to earth, nowadays everything is so hectic, so rushed. Everyone wants more from life, better than what they have. What happened to just being appreciative?" He stares off over to the window.

"Now I really do sound like a ninety-five year old man. Oh well… I suppose I am right? Reminiscing about the good ol' days." He rises to his feet and begins to wander around, taking in the photographs of various people, chuckling at one of Billy when he was a youngster, looking miserable with his hair waxed into place of a comb over.

"I'm sure he loved you for that."

Bucky moves from one photo to the other, watching Bucky grow up before his eyes, all of which are more on the professional side with the subject looking forced and uncomfortable having been made by his mother, who now displayed her gratitude by dressing the walls in photograph after photograph of him.

He then came to a class photograph, he was perhaps nine or ten and beginning to look a little rounder than the majority of the others, and it probably didn't help that he was stood in the middle of all the crowd, his uncomfortable stance a running theme within most of the photos, this one included.

"Wait is that…?" He moves a little closer to observe a girl on the front row, pale red hair a cheesy grin and some rather chubby cheeks of her own.

"You have got to be kidding me…" He laughs slightly, remembering when Maggie had mentioned her sister had once had a nickname for her as a child because she had been on the plumper side and liked her food. If it wasn't for the hair and eyes he never would have known.

"I told you I was chubby." Bucky turns his head around expecting to see a creeping Maggie there, but instead the doorway is vacant with no sign of her. Bringing his hand up to his neck and looking to Roberta as if to ask if she had heard her too, but of course he gains no response.

He feels a tinge in his head but he blinks and massages his temple to ease it, hearing a car door outside and wandering to the window to see Maggie had arrived for her usual morning visit. He must have just been thinking he heard her voice.

Taking a step to move away from the window, he isn't completely successful as there is still something distracting enough out of the window, and surprisingly enough it wasn't Maggie herself.

No, a man.

***T*C***

Maggie thought she had been seeing things when she had seen the red BMW behind her three blocks back and when she reaches her destination and it is still following and pulls up to a stop with her, she is ready to black his eyes for his stupidity.

"You have issues, you know that!" She glares at him as she wander away from her car and rather than heading to the front door she wanders across the street to the man of her past, who stood awaiting by his driver's door.

"How long have you been following me? I warned you… stop it else next time I see your pretty little wife I won't be able to bite my tongue…"

"I wasn't following you. I saw your car on my way to work…" He tries to excuse his behaviour.

Maggie's eyes narrow, "So you were following me"

He just stands before her awkward and yet his eyes still think they have the right to roam over her, "What no ring? Thought if you were all loved up like Amber said you would at least have a ring."

Ah, so her suspicions were confirmed, his little wife had ran and told him what she had seen the day previously with Maggie's and Bucky's little performance and she can't help but laugh, but it lacked any ingredient of humour.

"You couldn't be anymore pathetic could you? Jesus Christ Matt, what do you want?" Her eyes the colour of spring, tighten with a lack of interest.

"What is it a crime now for me to come and say hi? I thought we were amicable" Matt rests the tip of his tongue in the corner of his mouth, "Okay and maybe I wanted to see it with my own eyes"

"Is your life really that boring?" Signalling with her hands his smart crisp work attire.

For a long time like herself music had been his only passion and release, why they had hit it off so quickly when her and Billy had joined the ban. Her parents had not long died and it gave her a new lease of life and something to focus on, suppose he did too. But now he stood before her, no leather or plaid, no sneakers, a possible briefcase on the passenger seat. He had grown up, they both had. He just failed to see it, he seemed to fail to see a lot of things. Moral for one.

"I'm paying the bills Gi; I'm not as irresponsible as I used to be." He says it in a way as though it was supposed to encourage changing her mind about something or impress her.

Maggie can't help but respond with a scoff, "And yet you're here. I don't think Amber would see that as behaving responsibly", her eyes drifting off to the surrounding houses with her arms folded fiercely.

"Amber doesn't like to see anything, even what's right in front of her face"

"Ha!" A short pitched sarcastic laugh emits from her oral cave, "Oh Matt, that's just how you like your women, makes fucking about easier. That what you used to tell her about me, when you used to hop out of my bed into hers?"

He shifts on his feet, "It was never like that, Gi. You were what I wanted. You're still all I want…"

"Ooooh my god" Maggie produces the noise from the back of her throat without moving her tongue or lips, the palms of her hands on her forehead, looking at him is the most surreal light.

"I saw your mom about six months ago, you know what she said to me? 'He'll never get over you, you know? You were supposed to be my daughter-in-law. I wish you two could sort out your differences' Your poor wife is married into that!"

As much as she used to get on with his mother, she sees now they all had a screw loose.

"You used to say my mother spoke a lot of sense."

"Yeah?" She cocks her head, "I used to say you weren't capable of betraying me… I get things wrong sometimes"

"Exactly" He moved closer, "I got things wrong then and you're getting it wrong now. You don't want to marry somebody else, god it was only what three, four months ago when you were seeing the last guy. What and now after a couple of months you're ready to marry someone? We both know you are fooling yourself and it will never work… you still love me and you always will"

After a moment of gaping at him in astonishment, she can't take any more.

"You know what…" She curls her tongue out of her mouth for the tip to press upon her lip with a tightened jaw, "You are so pathetic!" she throws her hand up and turns her back. She had no interest, and she was disappointed in herself that she could have ever been in love with him, and that she had actually wasted her time on him now.

She had been young and desperate and thought he was cool and the answers to all her prayers. Now he stands there with his hair swept, meticulously in place, suit, tie around his neck only it just wasn't tight enough - he was still breathing.

She wasn't allowed to leave as he leans in with a woeful plea in his voice and takes her wrist, trying to keep her from leaving and if anything trying to pull her close, his second hand taking her waist.

"Get off me! Matt I'm telling you now, get off me!" She speaks through her gritted teeth and manages to squirm her way free of his grip on her waist, but her hand is still trapped and her fight becomes a little more erratic when she sees Billy's front door being ripped open and a clatter you can hear across the street of it hitting the wall before the mountain of a man comes storming from it.

"You need to leave!" Maggie turns to Matt, warning him in quite a rush as she can hear Bucky's thunderous steps coming closer and closer and she had absolutely no idea what was about to happen but she was sure to do avoid any of it.

"James…" She turns and frees herself in time to block his path; the guy was a trained assassin for Christ sakes, of course Matt didn't know that but he could see his size, he could see the threat in his eyes just as well as she could.

But unfortunately he was a complete buffoon and didn't get the hint, "Oh here's Romeo. Wow Maggie he seems serious."

She doesn't care what shit he has to say she is too busy putting her protesting hands upon Bucky's chest, thinking she would somehow have the power to stop him, "Please. Don't… seriously… don't."

His eyes are straight on over her head to the weasel that definitely had issues and had no right to be anywhere near her never mind to touch her. She wasn't his to touch, especially not grab. He would not stand by and let anyone look at her the wrong way, never mind grab her against her will.

Bucky didn't need any confirmation as to who he was,

"You never fucking touch her again, you hear me!"

"Down boy" Matt tries to prove he has balls by straightening his back and taking a step forward towards the new guy on the scene.

"I'd get back in the car and turn back, and don't look back. You ever see her in the street, you cross boy." Bucky's voice is flat and dripping with threat. A red mist clouding his sight but he can feel Maggie straining herself against him, keeping him in the reality of her presence.

"Oh she has you well trained. But I'm sorry man, she'll get bored. She always does, nothing to pick between you and the two guys before you." Matt goads.

Maggie is just cringing the whole while over the pissing contest.

"Oh I don't know, I might find it a bit easier than them to break that pretty neck of yours." Bucky nudges a little more forward, making Maggie fist his shirt, positive her blunt nails are close to fetching blood, terrified by his threats.

"You sure about that?" Matt draws that final bit closer, and Maggie lost in the two men, but Bucky is now laughing.

"Matt, leave. Now! What the fuck are you doing here anyway?! Get away from me! Get out of my life! Don't you get it? Are you that fucking thick?!" She bursts, turning to him but leans back against Bucky's chest, making sure he doesn't move any closer. Her heart is as wild and the last freaking thing she wanted this morning.

"Three years! Three fucking years! You have a wife! A child!" She brings her hands up to grip her hair, unable to understand this obsession and ownership he thinks he will always have over her. "You have no idea how fucking insane this is do you?! What you're going to spend your life driving past my apartment, hoping one day I'm going to run out to you with open arms and want you back? I didn't want you back the moment I found out you'd been shoving your cock in every girl who batter her lashes at you, what screw do you need to tighten to realize I'm never going to want you?" Her voice becomes loud, so loud she is sure every Tom, Dick and Harry who lives on the street can hear.

"I fucked up… I get it…" He looks to Bucky and back, "Tell this Fucker to move, Maggie. I need to talk to you. He needs to move, I swear to god!" Maggie sees into Matt's eyes and he believes he might manage to hurt him, he always had been deluded.

She doesn't want to talk to him, but he was right about one thing, Bucky does need to move. She needs to get him out of this situation and away from the stupidity and prying eyes, "James. I'm done with this… I'm… No!"

He is moving past her, and she tries to grab the arm of his jacket but misses, and she can see it now forming in her mind, he's going to kill him.

She couldn't look.

She couldn't look.

Bucky catching the fist that is flying in his direction without exertion or strain to Matt and effortlessly spin him around and pushing against his car with Matt's arm bent unnaturally up his back, so very close from breaking and crushing every finger and bone in his hand, and god he wanted to. He wanted to punish him.

"Do you not hear her? Do you not get it, _Fucker_? Get out of her life… before I make sure you do, permanently. You do not come near her…" Matt struggles but fails, cursing at him to get off, "You don't look at her, you don't even breathe the same air. And if I find out you do I will tear off that roaming little cock of yours and shove it so far up your ass you will be choking on it, you understand me?" Bucky's whispers are hissed right into his ear, making sure he catches every last promise.

As much as he wants to hurt and punish him, this wasn't his fight.

Bucky's temper is wavering and he pushes the stalker of a man further into the car, "Do. You. Understand?!"

"Get the fuck off me! Ah… ah…" He cries out in pain, Bucky's hand squeezing his tighter and anymore and his bones will begin to crush and crumble. "Okay… okay!" He screams out his surrender like a little girl.

Bucky lowers his head into his ear, "See, difference between you and me… I would take a body full of broken bones rather than give up on her." His words kept between the two of them.

A successful Bucky pushes at his head and face into the roof of his car before releasing him, looking to a less than pleased Maggie, and he imagined he would soon feel her wrath but after the occurrence that had taken play, he could handle a bit of hot steam of the negative kind from her. He was never going to stand back in this situation and do nothing, and after all the ideas of seriously hurt him had passed through his mind Bucky was feeling proud of himself for managing to control his temper enough not to break any bones.

"He's fine. A bruised ego, but he's fine." He assures Maggie because even though she might not be too happy with her ex right now, she didn't want him seriously hurt because of her or at the hand of Bucky. However, she does find herself praying his threats have worked, that this pathetic and borderline creepy behaviour would stop. It had gone on long enough, and despite everything she just wished he would focus on his family, rather than this ridiculous obsession with winning Maggie back.

"Okay… let just go inside" She takes Bucky's arm, just wanted to get out of the situation, wanting to know nobody would be hurt or some neighbour wasn't going to call the police.

She spots a bewildered looking Alice and Billy lurking at the front door, Billy red faced with anger, and Alice seemingly soothing his arm, bringing him to his senses. She wished it had been that easy with the man whose arm she was clutching at.

Matt remains standing there, now watching them walk away, attempting to shake the pain away in his hand, feeling angered with humiliation and the prying eyes didn't help. He shifts his glare over to the couple at the door, and his rage takes over his morals, "What the hell are you looking at, you fat fuck!"

Maggie thought it was over, she thought she was proud of herself that she hadn't lashes out or completely lost her cool, however she could take a lot of things but then when she heard that disgusting childish mouth ripple in her ears, her whole body seizes to a stop. Bucky alert to the changes knows a new blow had been hit, and he knew this one would cause Maggie to keep her cool. She shook off Bucky's arm and ducking under it in one swift move as she turns right back around, her feet pushed forward by her rage, and it is all in slow motion as she hooks her arm back. Billy is calling out for her to not take such serious action, Alice is less than pleased herself by what she had heard, and Bucky is helplessly moving forward.

But before he can manage to grab her by the waist and pull her back, as small and fragile as she might seem, Maggie's fist is connecting with force and precision straight bang upon his nose, blood coating her hand immediately, it breaking with the force. And suddenly she is like a crazed animal, eyes as red as the devil and bodily strength enough to give Bucky a good fight.

"YOU NEVER LET ME SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN!" Her bellows vibrate off every building, tearing her throat to shreds.

"You broke my nose you psychotic bitch!" Matt cries out, cupping his nose, voice nasal and hoarse.

Now it was Bucky's turn, only he doesn't pounce he simply lets Maggie go…

"Psychotic bitch huh?" She moves closer, this time she had control over her violence, but she doesn't feel one ounce of fear as she steps up against him in his face, "Psychotic bitch? Right now I am so disgusted with myself for even letting myself once feel for you, to think I let you near me, to think I shared the same bed as you makes me sick to my stomach. I spent so much time hating you, but now… now you are nothing! You are nothing, and I swear on my parents' _graves_ if I see you again I will not be held responsible for my actions."

Okay Bucky decides that he had let her go long enough, he didn't trust this prick and his eyes were livid and the last thing he wanted to do today was commit murder and if he lay a hand on Maggie, Bucky wouldn't be able to governor his fury.

By the shoulders he leads a shaking Maggie back to the house, Billy and Alice immediate stepping out of the way to get her in and the door shut, closing it all out. Alice immediate runs to get something to clean up Maggie's hand while Billy tends to calming her, Bucky however takes up his place by the window, watching the son of a bitch come to the dreaded realization and fuss over his nose as he gets into his car.

"Billy, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry… God Alice!" Her voice is trembling as is her body, indignantly, but the air is helping to stead the hunger of her lungs.

"It's been a long time coming." Billy tries to tame his vexed friend, "I can't…"

"Believe he came here and all this time and he is still…" Maggie finishes off what Billy was saying, unintentionally, "What the hell was I thinking? He is… vile, disgusting, revulsive, nauseating… I need more adjectives…"

"Weasel, toad, vermin…" Bucky offers her, despite lacking in adjectives; she seems as equally grateful but then remembers her place and affixes a glare of irritation that is now directed at him.

"I'm not happy with you right now. Why couldn't you just leave me to it? Instead of coming rushing in like a bull at a red flag? I had it under control"

"He was grabbing you," Bucky flat lines.

"I've been grabbed, pushed and pulled all my life, and I have handled it on my own. I don't need you playing guard dog! I can look out for myself!" Her breathing beginning to shake, along with her spasming hands.

"Yeah well if I'd have been there I'd have torn the fingers off every last one of them!" Bucky feeling an anger of his own, and needing to get out of this space before his head exploded, and his escape root came in route of the basement.

Alice approaches Maggie, yet her usual bounce of a skip is missing but it isn't as is anyone would notice. She had to admit even though her and Billy had discussed the happenings of yesterday morning, she was still coming to terms with the drama, she usually lead quite a boring and quiet life, the only madness having to face was her own from time to time.

"Maggie, some water. And a cloth for your hand." Noting the speckles of blood from her brawl. She had never seen anyone throw a punch like that, never mind a woman. She had led quite a sheltered life so far.

Silence was on everyone's lips apart from Maggie who was uttering an apology every now and again whether it is for the anarchy, her behaviour, the abuse Billy had suffered or just her inability to stop herself shaking.

The atmosphere is dense but Maggie rises herself from the sofa, hand now clean but aching along the knuckles and creeping up to the wrist, the tendons pulsating and within an hour or two she imagined there might be a blotching, but she was sure there was no bones broken. At least not on her part. Matt was another story.

Taking her leave up the stairs to contend with Roberta she finds herself overcome by a sadness, part of her so wishing she hadn't lowered herself into lashing out, but then at the same time and remembering the horrible name he had called Billy, she would never have been able to stand back. She never had. She had gotten into more trouble over the years acting out in defence of her best friend; usually she had just a teenage girl reacting to something an insensitive little imbecilic in high school with a tactless tongue. But now she was a woman and should know better, but then again she didn't expect a man close to thirty to be saying such things, especially to someone he used to know.

Perhaps the relationship between them, they were never aiming to be best friends and Billy was always cautious toward Matt, but they had seen eye to eye for her, even if there was no love loss after her and Matt had broken up, he still shouldn't have said what he did.

She worked with Roberta quietly and efficiently, tearing the sheets from the bed, and despite them being clean she had every intention of washing and replacing them, the lady only having one comfort in this world and that was fresh sheets every day. She would not deprive her of that.

"May I help?" A voice rouses behind her and she doesn't look back, too concerned with Roberta, but she is thankful the voice doesn't belong to Bucky and Billy for that matter.

"Thank you, Alice" Maggie's tone may have been flat but she was glad for the girl's appearance and the company for the ill woman, while she saw to it that her bed could be fresh before contending with giving her a bath and seeing to breakfast.

"I'm really sorry for all the drama. It's always like this I assure you. Sometimes we can just be normal…" She hugs the sheets to her chest, and Alice looks up from Billy's mother.

"I would have done the same. No I would have like to but I never would have had the guts or do I think I would have succeeded as well as you might, but I wouldn't be able to just walk away. He has a few issues that man… does he often do this?"

Alice is reassured by Maggie's head shaking, "No, I mean I see his car from time to time but… it's never like that. I feel stupid, I mean why? All this time and he is still behaving like that? Wh… I can't even… yes the relationship might be considered serious at the time but we… he… I don't get it. I don't care but… I do care when it's hurting and involving the people I love." While she had been speaking she hadn't been completely aware of the way her feet had grown closer, or even sat down on the small cushioned stool.

"Well there could be many reasons, he's obviously having problems moving on from the relationship…"

"Pfft.." Maggie blows and her bangs do a little flutter in the air, "Nah, this is about a claim. He doesn't really want me, he never would have done the things he did when we were together if he did, but he doesn't want anyone else to have me. He was always like that, I was just a stupid girl. I still am" Maggie's fingers are toying with a stray piece of threaded cotton.

"I don't think you are stupid Maggie. You are lovely and loyal, and he is nothing more than a chapter of your life and hopefully now for him especially that chapter has ended. While you are many chapters ahead and still many more to come and enjoy."

Finally smiling genuinely Maggie raises her jade eyes and nods in appreciation, "I do envy your ability to see things positively. I do try but I'm not always successful."

"Oh…" Alice's hand forms a light breeze as she flaps it back and forth in a motion of dismissal, "I'm not always positive. Not when it comes to myself at least. It's a lot easier to convince someone else to be positive than it is to convince yourself" She rolls her dry chapped morning lips, having been denied the time to brush her teeth.

"It is isn't it?!" Maggie allows herself to wet her own lips, and feeling a sense of closeness to the girl, "So you and Billy… are things positive between the two of you?" Ruddiness claims Alice's cheeks, while Maggie hopes a conversation change will help clear her mind from recent events, taking advice and focusing on something positive.

"I would say so yes. We were worried about you yesterday of course, as you could tell with how many times Billy was texting you, but you seemed in good hands so I did confiscate his phone after a while. I hope you don't mind, I did behave quite selfishly." She bows her head and inch of two closer to her chest.

"Don't be silly, Alice. Billy overreached, they both did. I was fine and they knew it but for some reason they have to be these over protective guard dogs. You saw Bu… James out there. It really is ridiculous…"

So ridiculous that there comes a point it gets too much. Yes she knew that if they hadn't behaved like they had yesterday Bucky and she wouldn't have had the whole day together and she had enjoyed it immensely, but fuss she didn't handle all that well, nor violence, even if she had a wild prominent streak of it herself. But in having that it made it more difficult to have the strength to control her own, never mind anyone else's.

"He definitely does have this uncontrollable need to protect you. Yesterday morning when you were ill, he uh… well I've never seen anything like it… I know you said he was in the army but one minute he was there and the next I look and he has climbed the building across the street and just jumped onto the roof… I… thought I was seeing things… and his arm…"

Maggie etched a little closer, worrying about the scene she was describing that she had seen. She wasn't lacking a brain nor eyes, but Maggie feared what might come of it now that she had reasons to ask questions and also what she might say to someone or do, or be thinking.

She had no idea where to even start with making excuses, and Alice was looking at her too intensely and seeing it all written across her face,

"Billy… he told me. I forced it out of him, so please don't be angry with him. I know he's… different" She whispers, hoping nobody but the two of us would hear.

Maggie didn't know how to feel, she felt relieved she didn't need to make excuses but at the same time she was alarmed. She liked the girl, she felt comfortable in her company, but not comfortable enough to trust her completely with the truth about Bucky. Billy obviously trusted her, and Maggie thought it should bring her guarantee but it failed to do so.

"Wh… what did he tell you exactly?" Maggie notes that Alice had been vague, so she didn't want to open up about the situation and say something she didn't know and frighten her into making a bad decision.

"Not much… just that he was different. That he lost his arm, and people experimented on him. That… you're trying to help him…"

Maggie nodded her head slowly, and she wished she felt more comfort than she did. She didn't know much, but she knew enough and there was no denying the list of questions scripted into her eyes, none of which Maggie would answer.

"Alice… I know you don't know us well, and I know it might seem frightening to you. But… I need you to forget what you saw. To never breathe a word to anyone, not even the person you think you trust the most. Because if you do he will have to leave… he will have to…-" Maybe it was already too late.

"Maggie… it's okay Maggie" Alice reaches out her assuring hands to clap Maggie's which are suddenly cold. "I won't say a thing, I won't do a thing. I have questions and maybe I'm a little scared but I don't think it's him I'm scared of… I… I just mean I wouldn't do anything to harm any of you or make him have to go and leave you. I promise you." Her sweetness is plentiful and she holds a pure heart. For Maggie she was extremely grateful, but couldn't shake all of the fear. There was no easing the trepidation, she could only ignore it now and again but the truth was time was passing and while she should be feeling safer with every passing day, she finds it's just another day having past that they were closer to finding him.

"I should get Roberta her breakfast" Standing to her feet, Maggie makes no further queries; she only has the option to trust her and hope none of them would end up regretting it.

After that she managed to get on with the chores at hand without many interruptions being as bathing Roberta needed privacy, there was a knock on the door once from Billy but she could deter him simple enough and send him away.

Maggie takes her time, letting Roberta enjoy the warmth of the water and it cleansing her thoroughly, even if in some ways it damaged her dignity. But it didn't need to, Maggie's mind was so far removed, mindlessly taking care of her and she resists from time to time with gurgled complaint but she comes to enjoy it again when Maggie carefully holds her head back while she gave her hair a good clean.

The house is quiet when she has finished and gotten Roberta securely in her specialized chair, back in her comfort just watching the world pass by with some light Elvis playing in the background.

Back down the stairs a little look into the kitchen saw Alice and Billy outback, seemingly wrapped up in conversation with one another, while from the ajar door on her left she heard Bucky beneath in the basement and she was glad she could slip in and out without any confrontation. She took a couple of gulps from her coffee and poured the rest down the sink before taking her leave.

Her shift would take her past ten that night and she knew Billy would see to all her needs from the rest of the day, so she needed not to come back today. It would give her some breathing space, and in all honest after the delusion of the morning she was glad to be spared of any further embarrassment of facing them.

***T*C***

Work was busy enough for her to lose her personal life within the chaos of people with real issues to face. Her hand was giving her some jip after a couple of hours but nothing some ice and aspirin couldn't cure in her break.

It also helped that one of the fellow nurses on shift, Lauren, was in high spirits because it was her birthday, and she seemed more than eager to get the nurses together on Friday night for a few drinks in order to celebrate and being as everyone else seemed more than happy to accept the invitation Maggie could hardly say no, and it might have also come down to actually wanting to. She hadn't been out in a long time and even if it was for an hour, what harm would it do? She was more than entitled to take some time for herself.

The following morning had gone much smoother, and gratefully so. She was nervous by the lack of other female company with Alice missing, but Billy had explained that after she hadn't been home in a couple of days she needed some changes of clothes and catch up with a few things because she had other commitments other than being around tucked up with Billy twenty four seven. Those had been Billy's words, not Maggie's.

"So, Alice mentioned, her uncle is a cop…" Billy drops into conversation, and Maggie almost drops the boiling hot kettle and scolds herself, thankfully she hadn't but panic had struck.

"What? A cop… why… why would she…" The conversation between the two females rang heavy in her ears, and her heart drops into the depths of her stomach.

"Well she was thinking… because what happened with Matt, maybe to prevent it happening again you could inquire into a restraining order?" Billy speaks with the aim of being helpful.

"What?!" Maggie turns around with her eyes pinched at the underbelly. She hadn't quite expected him to come out with that.

"Billy that's just… ridiculous!" She speaks, unable to contain her ingratitude, "What happened yesterday was stupid and isn't going to occur again. And what am I supposed to say? I was the one that got violent, I'm positive I broke his nose. The only one who has broken the law is me. So no… thank you." She turns back, a spark of pain in her hand, perhaps psychological from the direction of the conversation.

"But while we have a moment…" Maggie makes a shift move to close the kitchen door, Bucky was showering but he had already been up there twenty minutes, she didn't want to risk him coming down and overhearing.

"What were you thinking telling Alice?" She blurts tersely, "You tell her about Bucky knowing she has an uncle who's a cop? I get that you trust her, I get you don't want to lie to her Billy, but come on! Nobody else needs to know about this. It's dangerous enough as it is"

Billy does feel a hint of his own irritation for the way she speaks to him, in some ways he can understand her reasoning but at the same time he feels the need to defend his girlfriend, "She won't tell anyone. She already knew something wasn't right, and yes I'm not about to lie to her. I don't expect you to understand…"

"No Billy… I don't understand. We're in enough danger as it is, and now she is in just as much! If something happens, if…"

"Give it a rest Maggie!" He is blunt with exasperation, "I am aware of what is going on here. She barely knows anything. This is my house, I let him stay here as my guest because of you. Now I would like it if you would accept that Alice is going to be staying here too now and again and _if_ she is in danger it is much safer if she knows, be more careful with what she says. I don't need a degree to have common sense" And he does not say anything more but he disappears from the room, his voice having been firm, with a sharpness Maggie wasn't on the receiving end of all too often.

Perhaps she'd acquired an unusual harsh tone of her own when questioning him. She was feeling intense; maybe it had something to do with her menstrual cycle having come upon her late last night. She didn't need the chore of being a woman to add to her already ability to be complete irrational at times.

So she saw to it that she apologized, and genuinely meant it with a big hug he couldn't help but return and voice his own regret. They came to the conclusion that it was a stressful situation and that a little escape might do them all some good, making arrangements for Billy and Alice to come up with a plan for all of them to do at the weekend. Bucky seemed up for it too, even if deep down he hated that he was the underlining cause.

There might have been a glitch but it was easily downtrodden and Maggie could leave for work away, leaving the two men to their day while she set about hers.

"Things are getting to her. To both of you" It is more a statement on Bucky's part, there was no uncertainty.

Billy looks up from the latest text message off Alice, "Maybe… I don't know. Maggie's mind is a mystery, even to me. But don't worry about it, Buddy. I don't have any complaints and Maggie will get past it. It isn't you"

But Bucky isn't convinced.

This whole set up, it isn't good on any of them. He couldn't quite deny it anymore.

Maybe he needed to stop being so selfish and think a little bit more about when the right time might be to leave.

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**Oh so we had a blast from the past, and Bucky is thinking of leave :O**

**Please Leave A Comment whether you love or hate my fic at the moment. I think I can handle it ;)  
**

**Danielle xx**


	22. Chapter 22 - Sound Of Silence: Part One

**Hey guys! Here is the next chapter!**

**So I'm writing Chapter 28 now and things are getting more dramatic and lengths of chapters are longer so it is taking me longer to write but I will be posting as often as possible :)**

**Also I'm thinking of changing the name of the story. I like the one it already has but there is something else that fits too. Let me know what you think.**

**Now enough from me, go read :D**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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CHAPTER XXII

A few days had past and Maggie had managed to shake off most of the lingering worries in her stomach revolving around Alice and the information she knows. She'd seen and spent time with her since and nothing had been mentioned, nor had anything occurred to prove she couldn't trust her. Truth is she wanted to trust her; she wanted everything to be rosy so nothing could come between her and Bucky.

Things had been much more relaxed and everything seemed well between them all, all but one. Oh he wore smiles, would laugh, would make jokes and cause banter, but Maggie could not put her finger on a feeling she had in her stomach. A feeling of dread when she caught him out the corner of her eye, lost in the depth of his mysterious and dangerous mind.

Bucky wore a bruise around his eye and a gash to the forehead, and neither of them had been caused by Maggie if that's what you are thinking. She hadn't been using him as target practice again.

A day earlier;

"_So are you going to tell me what happened?" Maggie perches her rump on the end of the table, while he sat at her knees on a chair, "Don't give me the bullshit you gave them about tripping and falling"_

_He sits perfectly still while she plays nurse and drabs at his injuries with a tonic coated cotton ball, making sure he is all cleaned up before she could attend to stitching the nasty laceration upon his hairline. When she had first seen him her heart had been in her throat, her mind immediately thinking the worse. He had been somewhere, been seen and come across the injuries while attempting to evade capture. However that was a little overdramatic when she realized he hadn't even left the house._

"_I had a twinge in my head and I lost my balance" He internally rolls his eyes as she pushes his head back to get a better look. He was sure she didn't manhandle all her usual patience with that manner._

_The truth was he had felt a twinge, but it had turned into a full blown attack, claiming every ounce of control over his body and sending him crashing down the basement steps, his head managing to bounce and hit every last obstacle on the way down._

"_And how do you feel now? Are you feeling sleepy? Light headed? Is anything blurred or hard to concentrate on? Why are you not breathing properly?" She demands her answers, needing to make sure he was okay and not suffering any concussion or worse. She knew he had had a seizure, she just didn't understand why he wouldn't admit it to her._

"_I'm fine, Maggie" Yes so maybe he felt tired, maybe he felt weak and pathetic but he put it down to a bruised ego, "I can see fine."_

"_Why are you not breathing properly?" Again she applied with a mandatory tone._

"_I'm not breathing properly because I had garlic earlier and I don't want to breathe on you" He opens his good eye and parts his lips exhaling heavily, a second later and she is scrunching up her nose._

"_See!" His mouth forms a lazy smile as he willingly closes his eye again, it being much easier to keep his mind clear knowing she was so close, but not seeing just how much._

"_Okay. But I don't care. Just… breathe" She whispers, a softness returning to her voice aswell as her actions as she runs her fingers through his hair, continuing to fix him up with her other hand, wishing she had a magic wand to take whatever was causing these seizures away. So much so she can't help but voice her concerns and offers help in the form of finding a doctor they could trust. But he was quite to bat down the idea, and assure her he would be okay eventually. _

That was part of the reason it came to be she was at her sisters apartment building. Another factor was that her sister had been out of town for a couple of days and she'd called past once or twice to make sure everything was okay, and this time she had been driving past and noticed that Steve's blinds were now open when yesterday they had been closed and the garage door was open, showing the back tire of a rather smart motorbike.

She'd acted on impulse when she finished up in Kate's apartment, bringing over some bread and milk for when she got home later that evening; she knocks on Steve's door. She was surprised that if Steve was back her sister wasn't too, but they obviously weren't inseparable and had work away from one another. Some of that brought Maggie a smidgen of relief, but she still had her worries.

It takes two knocks before she can hear sign of life inside, and would have thought he was avoiding answering the door until about fifteen seconds later the door begins to open in a cautiously slow manner, and she sees a clenched fist before anything else.

"It's just Ka… Sharron's sister, Maggie" She informs before he gets the chance to pop his head around and see her.

"Oh… Oh! Maggie, right" And his hand relaxes and she shows himself. She was surprised by his lack of real caution, he was actually rubbish at it, and Maggie raised her hand and points to the door.

"Spy hole, they can be quite useful" She informs but gives him a polite smile.

He waves his finger and sucks his lips, "Right. Thanks… I'm not usually so rubbish at answering a door. I'm just not used to guests."

"It's okay. I didn't mean to disturb…" Maggie inclined her head towards the spot of shaving foam on his chin. He had already gotten rid of the beard he wore the last time she saw him, suppose business didn't call for it.

"Not at all" He brings his hand up and blindly wipes his chin with the collar of his t-shirt, "Is there something I can help you with? Something wrong?"

He couldn't make sense of her knocking at his door if she didn't need something or perhaps something had occurred.

"Oh no… well… I was wondering if I could talk to you, if you aren't busy?"

Her ominous tone has him opening the door and agreeing, stepping back to allow her in, wondering what on earth she could need to speak to him about. If she had some form of worries wouldn't she divulge them to her sister rather than come to him, unless it was about her. And if it was about Sharron then he did feel a hint of stiffness in his back.

"Can I get you a drink?" He asks once he had given a glance down the hall, in habit of making sure all was well before closing it out.

Maggie is about to decline, but realizes that her mouth is a little dry and it wasn't every day that you are in Captain America's company never mind in his apartment, "Water would be great, thanks" And while his back is turned getting her the drink she can give the apartment a quick scan over, and she isn't all too surprised by what she finds. It was an accomplishedly furnished apartment, a bachelor pad, but it lacked the personal touches of photographs and memorabilia.

However, upon the coffee table there was a clutter of papers, and a mug of half-drunk coffee, that she thought must be cold being as she had caught him shaving. But before that he was obviously wrapped up in some paperwork, and she has to note the map with several dots and crosses upon them. A few papers were crinkled as though he might have gotten frustrated and screwed them up in temper. But the spotting at one corner of a brown file was all she needed to see to know what it was all about.

'Barnes' only meant one thing.

He notices her prying eyes and comes along to distract her, and cover up anything super confidential. Not that it would change anything, he was no closer to finding him. He had disappeared off the planet.

If only he know he only lived five minutes with the girl noising around his apartment.

"Oh thanks." She takes the glass, averting her eyes despite every bone in her body longing to have a look at that file.

"Not a problem. So, what might I help you with? Are you in some kind of trouble?" He doesn't hold back.

Maggie shakes her head for a moment, while she quickly swallows the water to answer, feeling a slight burn in her throat but she managed not to choke, "No… well my sister would say I'm always getting myself into trouble but no… actually…" She decides to make herself comfortable because she had no intentions of leaving just yet. Not until she got her answers, "I'm sort of here because of my sister…"

"Oh?" His back straighten just slightly.

He would be no good being interrogated that was for sure.

"Thing is…" She chirps, "I don't know how much you know, but my sister and I, it's just the two of us. Our parents died a few years ago, I don't know if she told you."

"She happens to mention it, yes."

So they had delved into talking about each other's personal lives, "Mmm, I thought she might… Anyway…" Maggie places her glass down on the small area free on the table between them, "So it's just been Kate, Me and my Nana…" She tries hard not to observe his reaction too much, and it helped that there wasn't really much of one at all. He just seemed to be waiting.

_Oh Kate you fool!_

"So I'm quite protective of her. Especially when I think she is being stupid and naïve. I might be the younger and more irrational out of the two of us, but my sister can have her moments. We can all be swept off our feet, and makes us think less logically, if you catch my drift?" She speaks slowly, trying her best not to be blunt, but he is looking puzzled which isn't making it easy.

'_Steve might be smart, but when it comes to women… nothing will change.' _Bucky's voice is ringing in her ears, and it was now obvious that the two old friends might still know each other quite well.

"I don't think I am. Unless you think she is in some form of danger? Umm… perhaps someone she is acquainted with?"

Oh bless him, Bucky was a tool at times but he grasped things she was trying to say.

"Listen…" She shifts to the edge of the sofa to get a little closer to him, "What it is, I know what it's like. You're around members of the opposite sex, you're forced into this situation where you get close and you try and keep it amicable, professional but you just can't stop yourself from growing feelings of a different… nature…" She squints slightly as she speaks from own experience; hoping if she doesn't have to flat out ask if they are screwing for him to get to grips with what she is asking.

"Oh… uh…" His forehead is pinched and she can see a tinge of pinkness seep up from the V collar of his t-shirt and spread up his neck. "I'm not sure what you're implying…"

"See I think you do" Maggie gives him a forced tight smile, "I don't want to pry. Thing is… I just know my sister, and I can't blame her… I mean you're Steve Rogers, Captain America. And she's a gorgeous woman with a good head on her shoulders, any man would be lucky to have her too. So… what I'm saying is do you think whatever you are feeling is just a normal crush or is it something serious?"

His redness had spread and he was on edge, and it was quite cute, "No… I don't know what gave you this idea…" He stops when he sees the knowing look in her eye.

He was privately asking himself how she would know; after all they had only met briefly and his actions had always been guarded. Things between him and Kate were awkward from time to time, perhaps there had been fleeting moments of lingered looks or maybe he had gone out of his way to see her, deciding he has laundry at the same time he sees her off to do hers. Sometimes they had shared some more personal time, with work distant in their conversation, but he always tried to keep it cordial. And Kate always seemed so professional that she wouldn't let herself have feelings. But he is asking himself if maybe she had.

"We're both very busy. I enjoy her company…" He doesn't mind admitting, but he wasn't about to go any further.

"I get it. Believe me, I get it. You don't want to even admit it to yourself. But then one minute you are having friendly banter, you're enjoying each other's company and the next thing you know you're jealous when you see them around someone else and they too are enjoying time together, then you can't keep your eyes off them even though you're in a room with other people who are after your attention. And then your heart is like a mockingbird when you are close and the next thing you know you're in his arms and he's kissing you…" Her eyes are glazed over sightless, but directed on the table. It takes a second or two to blink away the memory and return her attention back to the room and feeling her own blush take over her cheeks.

Taking her glass of water, the chilled clear liquid gives her hope that it might cool her, "Sorry. Like I said… I get it." God if only he knew who she had been talking about. "I just think if it feels like it is inevitable then… talk to her. Because things… just talk to her. Make her be honest with you…" She wanted to tell him, she thought she should and had planned on doing, but she couldn't do that. If her sister had real feelings for him, she couldn't be the one to break her heart and break the trust between the sisters.

It hadn't been the only reason Maggie had come. And she had planned to use the glass of water to 'accidently' knock it over so she could rush and see more of the papers on the table, but it came about that she didn't need to do it on purpose because as she goes to place her glass back down it tumbles and falls, pouring its content out everywhere.

"Oh god!" She jumps up immediately, and he is doing the same wanting to save his precious papers from any damage at all. Both of them were in a flummox, in the act of salvaging the soggy treasured papers, lists of names she didn't get the chance to catch, but she does manage to get her hands on the folder, while he had already rushed off to get a towel to try and drab and soak up the water and give them a wipe down.

"Steve I'm so sorry. I'm such a Klutz" She calls out while temptation gets the better of her and she opens up the folder and the first thing that she sees is a picture, and it isn't until his involuntarily gasped that it sunk in the individual in the photograph, and the air she inhales clings and knots in her oesophagus.

"James" She can't help but murmur as her fingers reach out and touch the photograph, at first she tries to tell her that it can't be, that it couldn't be him and she wasn't seeing this. Him there lifeless and frozen, but she knows it was nobody else. It was him, and this is just a glimpse of what they did to him. And now, now she wished she hadn't looked. Now she wished she was at Billy's where she could see him in the flesh, the gorgeous warm flesh. Alive and awake, so she could hear his voice and know that he was okay. Knowing that he was out of harm's way.

She was so wrapped up in the image that she hadn't heard or acknowledged Steve's return, not until he was right beside her demanding her thoughts.

"You know him? You called him James! How do you know him, Maggie? Do you know him?" He moves and speaks with urgency, needing to understand how or why she would know who he was and even refer to him by his Christian name.

She lifts her eyes, trying to hide her sorrow. But she couldn't bring herself to lie convincingly so she began to nod her head, answering his final question with the truth.

"I…"

_Maggie lie! You have got to lie! As caring and desperate as he seems you can't tell him!_

_LIE!_

Her internal screams snap her back to life, and the guttering over her lips seized as she claims control back over them.

"I… know _of_ him"

She did know of him, she knew better than of him. She saw him every day and every day when she sees him waiting he makes her smile. He makes her happy to get up in the morning. He makes dragging herself over to Billy's at five o'clock in the morning more than bearable. He made her laugh, he made her feel warm inside. He made her feel alive.

_That's it Maggie, you're doing well. Now explain. You need to explain. _

Her thoughts encourage her.

"My Nana… she used to tell us stories. Stories about you, and James Barnes. You're 'adventures'. Is this… is this really him?" Her question is not because she isn't sure, but to try and make her seem as oblivious as possible, hoping he would buy it.

Steve takes the folder from her, keeping his eyes on him as he closed it. Many had heard the stories; many had seen the faces smeared all over the Smithsonian Building. She might have a sister who is an agent but she was still just a nurse. Of course she wouldn't know where he is. But for a moment he had felt more hope than he had in recent weeks at coming close to him, but it was snatched from him and as always replaced with disappointment.

"It's confidential…"

"But…" Maggie stops herself immediately, knowing she can't seem too eager. She had to be so very careful.

Suddenly out of nowhere when he looks at her he is stricken with familiarity, the most peculiar feeling taking over him as he hopes that none of it made sense.

"I've seen you before… before the other night"

Maggie needed to leave. She knew she shouldn't have come here, she knew she should have stayed away and nothing good could have come from this. She was stupid. So very stupid.

"You seemed familiar then, but I couldn't place your face. But now I remember… that day…" He turns with her as she seems in a rush to leave for the sack of her sister.

"At the home. You were at the home. Peggy! How… how do you know Peggy?" Following after her, close behind, and Maggie is mentally kicking herself.

"Peggy Carter. You might know her as Peggy Flynn but I know her as Peggy Cart…"

In attempts of jogging her memory, it is his who comes alive with the truth, and his momentary stagger brings pity to her eyes as she looks to him.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Steve." And she was, she was sorry for everything. "Talk to her. You need to talk to her…" She whispers, opening the door and backing out of it, incapable of facing what she had caused. Taking the coward's way out.

***T*C***

Fleeing had been her only option, fleeing and finding a whole somewhere to crawl and hide from her sisters impending wrath when she was to find out it was her who had slipped up and revealed her secret. And from his expression, Steve wasn't coping with the new found revelation all too well, and nothing she was to say would help. She hadn't actually needed to say anything but she was still to blame.

By the time she gets home to her apartment she had tried to call Kate numerous times, but hadn't succeeded in getting an answer and hearing her voice. Maggie believed that she should warn her sister, confess to straining her loyalty, but at the same time the coward inside of her is pleased she doesn't answer and have to tell her the truth about her mistake.

She was supposed to be going out later tonight and she had been looking forward to it, but she wasn't sure now she was in the greatest frame of mind to be out socializing, especially when she is going to be waiting all night for her phone to buzz, notifying her that her sister needed to talk to her. And then there was Bucky. She couldn't shake that imagine out of her head. But she knew he was okay now. She knew he was as safe as he could be and nothing could hurt him. Least that was what she was hoping. She couldn't really go back there and find out. All she could do was hope the seizures would subside.

No, he was okay. She felt a desperate need to see him, but it would have to wait. She would call by later and see him then. For now she unnecessarily locked herself away in the bathroom and shed herself of her clothes and stepped into the streaming shower, hoping she could wash away her sins, somehow praying it took back her actions of the days.

Chance would have been a fine thing.

Kate had arrived back from New York later than Steve, for him meetings were quicker as he had more importance than she did, so she was left with the runt of the agents to wait out the latest reports. She did however gain her very own mission assigned to her and nobody else. It was crucial to get Steve to leave Washington and move his business to New York on a permanent basis. And her objective was to convince him.

They knew as well as she did that it wouldn't be an easy job. They had tried ever since SHIELD headquarters had been moved to the famous Stark Tower in the heart of busy Manhattan. But with the new information that his lifelong friend and partner in crime was in fact alive and working for the enemy, he was insisting on staying put in case Barnes where to come look for him. It is only through Steve that she knows so much, after the events and corruption within SHIELD because of HYDRA everything revolving around the latter organization was very tight lipped. As for the matter of Bucky Barnes, they weren't official aware of his involvement. They were however officially looking for him, but Steve was attempting to find him for himself in the hopes of avoiding capture.

In recent months she had been regarded by SHIELD as nothing more than a glorified guard dog for Captain America. Of course she felt pride in the position, but working with Steve, trying to help him was where the real pride came in. That he trusted her to know the truth and help him. And she had been, she had been doing everything she could but at the end of the day they were no closer to finding him.

Steve was resistant in taking orders off SHIELD after all that had happened, he found it hard to trust them, even with Tony Stark taking a place of command. Also they weren't the best of friends.

So when she finally got back to the apartment and carried her bag off the elevator her assignment fled her mind as she sees the door at the end of the hall open and reveal Steve and she couldn't stop herself from smiling, reminded herself to keep it platonic.

"I didn't think I was going to get back for tonight. You were right… about what they wanted to talk to me about. They want me to convince you to go to New York" Speaking freely, knowing there was nobody but her and him on this floor. "It's of deepest of importance. In other words… it's easier for them to keep an eye on you there" She speaks disloyally but it was just the two of them. Plus she was loyal, but she didn't think she could achieve this assignment.

She notices after a while that he hasn't spoken, he is just looking at her. And not just a gaze, this look, it wasn't something she had seen before and she felt a surge of worry that everything wasn't right.

"Steve, what is it? Have you found some information? Is it about Barnes?" The hope is evident in her voice; however it quickly drifts away when he shakes his head and steps closer. A lot closers, closer than perhaps the two of them had been, and her throat is going dry.

"I know." He said. "I know you're related to Peggy"

Kate is frozen on the stop, eyes moving away from him as she feels herself sink, as though she was melting into the ground and drowning in her own clothes. Her case suddenly heavy, despite only housing a few necessary items. His eyes are like lasers, burning and cooking her flesh, while she wished her heart would calm itself, as well as the nerves twitching in her hands.

"How?" She barely creates a sound.

"It's doesn't matter how. All that matters is that you're… why did I not see this? Why wouldn't you tell me?" Steve's chests sinks, disappointed in himself as well as her for feeling he didn't need to know something so important.

Opening the door, she feels a hint more comfort inside the privacy of her apartment and Steve invites himself in, watching her like a hawk, trying to see any part of Peggy within her.

"I don't tell everyone everything, I'm not about to shout it from the rooftops, I'm proud but I didn't want anyone looking at me and just seeing Peggy Carter's granddaughter. Especially you. It was my secret to tell… I…" She doesn't really know what else to say, because she knew that from this moment on he would not look at her as he had before he knew who she was. Now she knew that whenever he looked at her, all he would search for was the love of his life. And that wasn't her.

"Granddaughter? Oh god!" His head drops forward, a fringe of hair falling before his tightly squeezed eyes.

"See" She spoke weakly.

Kate had always managed to control her emotions much more than Maggie, it didn't mean she was heartless, she was anything but.

There is an extremely long silence as she allows Steve to process the revelation, but she wouldn't stand about and watch his turmoil or watch him try and see her grandmother within her eyes. For once in her life, she didn't want to be anything like her. She had spent her life trying to be her, trying to copy the amazing things she had done, but she did not want to be her when it came to Steve.

And nobody could really blame her for that. Who wants the eyes of the man you are fond of to hold love, but not for you?

As she takes herself away from the situation, Kate brings light to the airy kitchen to case the darkness away and reveal things as she left it, apart from a loaf of bread and a scrap piece of paper with a quick message;

**Let me know you're home safe. Love ya, Maggie x**

Suddenly a dark mist descends upon her eyes.

"God Damn you Maggie!"

***T*C***

Maggie hadn't heard anything from her sister, and once again she doesn't know whether to be relieved or more anxious, if it was possible she felt both. The shower hadn't miraculously turned back time; it had just left her feeling fresher with less bristly legs.

For now she made the journey back to Billy's, she was sure she could make it blind folded if she was assured there wouldn't be any pedestrians or other vehicles on the road. He had quickly become her second home, she liked her apartment and there were times she was glad to be in it, but it missed the life that Billy's was full of - Especially now with Alice. She had to remind herself that she was nothing but an innocent girl who had won the heart of her best friend, but it was only wise of her to hold some caution.

With her change in plans for the night, she had stopped off at the local convenience store and picked up some beers and a bottle of wine as she was sure Billy had mentioned Alice would be staying the night, and getting a little Merry and soaking up the alcohol with take-out sounded like a plan that might distract her from the events from earlier in the day. So she hadn't had the opportunity to dress up and make herself pretty and head out for a night on the town, drink cocktails and have a dance but the brut truth of it was he preferred the idea of being at Billy's. It all came down to the company she would be keeping. Even though she knew Bucky would be less than pleased with what she had done today, but she was sure she could win him around. At least she hoped so.

Right then as she was pulling up to a red light with two cars in front of her, her phone begins to vibrate to life, and that horrible feeling of dread prangs at her stomach, assuming it to be her sister.

Reaching out, she take it in her hands but thankfully knowing speaking to her sister could be put off for a little more time as the caller ID read Billy.

Answering it with ease she places it to her ear, "Bill, I'm just around the corner. I called off to get some drinks" She speaks without any formal greeting as the lights were due to change at any moment.

"It's me" Came a different masculine voice, confident enough that she would recognize, but solemn enough to question is reason.

"James? Hey…" A light cheer to her voice. She'd never spoken to him over the phone before. "Wha sup?" She suddenly goes a hint 'gangsta'.

There is a momentary pause of voice, interrupted with a long exhale of breath, "It's… Roberta darlin'." A scratching noise and then… "Maggie's… she's gone…"

Silence.

Silence.

The lights change.

Silence.

Silence.

The phone slips from her hand.

Silence.

Silence.

The cars pull off in front of her.

Motionless.

Silence.

Eyes close, a single voiceless tear tumbles and falls.

Silence.

Car horns from behind begin to wail.

Silence…

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***Sniffles* So Roberta met her end and Maggie is a claptrap.**

**Please Leave A Comment  
**

**Danielle xx**


	23. Chapter 23 - Sound Of Silence Part Two

**Hey guys! Hope you are all enjoying the summer, I'm frazzled and that's just Britain!**

**Anyway hope you like!**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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CHAPTER XXIII

_Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick Tock. Tick –_

Silence.

Bucky took it upon himself to carry out an old-fashioned tradition of homage and respect and stops the clock. Time seizing.

Behind his chill prickling back, a mute Billy brings the blanket up upon his mother, making sure she did not lose her warmth any sooner than nature claimed it, his hand remaining to hold hers in a desperate need to feel as much closeness so he could tuck it away in his memory, never to forget.

Backing out of the room, he leaves the mother and son to give them… him privacy at the dark hour. The last of the day's sun shining in through the window, as he noiselessly closes the door behind him.

Blinking repeatedly he lets his eyes roam the several feet of space around him and the closed doorways, the only light coming from the stairwell and the glass of the front door, luring him under its enchantment, fearing the darkness behind him as his blank mind silently instructs his feet to move, to take the steps. To feel the light through the glass cast speckles of colours upon the skin of his hand, while upon the other the sun reflects off the metal. The hands light and dark, lost and found, life and death.

They were so captivating, so opposite. Yet both shook. How he didn't know why, nor wonder.

Holding them out in front of him, mesmerized as two more come to slide their way upon them to clasp his hands, but they are suddenly hands of a child.

"_Up you get, Baby Boy. We all fall, but we get back up again" _An echoed voice belonging to memory. Memory he did not have, but somehow, somewhere it belonged and the voice was dear to him.

Curling his fingers upon themselves into his manly palms, it is gone. The voice, the hands of a child. The hands of a mother, bringing that child back to their unsteady feet. Disappeared.

Death. It had followed him all of his life like a personal curse. First his mother before he could really remember, or understand. His father, a man who taught him of death, and had lived every day as though it was the last. Men, so many men of the army he grew up admiring failing to come back after a long time away from home. His own, painful and cold. Deaths he had caused, so many of them he couldn't count. And now… Roberta. A frail old lady, who a few weeks ago meant nothing, unaware of her existence. And yet this death struck him like no other had before. It was real, it all felt too real.

He had always had a coping mechanism for death, even those who died by his hand and haunted him. But he could have stopped that. He had the power to go against death himself, but now he could not have changed a thing about the loss Billy was currently facing. And never before had nature felt so real, not even when he lay gasping against the bitter frost of that mountain pit when he lay facing his own demise.

"James… James… Bucky!"

Blinking several more times his orbs are raised to the woman before him, she was not a phantom, but wore pale flesh like a ghost.

He had not heard her enter, nor seen her, nor felt the breeze follow her in through the open door, but he sees her now and she looks to him with a need for comfort. For a need to take away the truth, or at least have her hopes demolished to save further heartache that comes with hoping a love one isn't really gone.

His mouth dry, his lips tacky and gluing themselves together, his right ear falling towards his shoulder, a silence message of sorrow passing through their hearts, confirming her fears.

As she rolls her head back, her eyes tight shut and as uncontrollable as her lip, Bucky takes a step further door, to stand on the last before the bottom and brings his fingers to her cheek. The warmth within them real, and soothing. But only for a second before he draws the grieving girl into his arms, a fake one that wrapped around her shoulders, and the real one that holds her head to his chest with its fingers taking advantage of her hair, all in the selfish need to feel her. Because he knew if he felt her he would be comforted in knowing there was still real light and beauty in a dark time. That nothing could cast complete darkness over him or anyone else if she was close.

Maggie had wanted to see her, to see Billy. See the truth with her own eyes, but Bucky refused to allow her. For now the only person who really needed something was Billy, and Billy needed a few final untarnished moments with his mother.

As for Maggie she was insisting that she needed to check her over, but Bucky wouldn't let her, because despite her being a nurse and spending a lot of her life around death she didn't need to be a nurse now. She could just grieve, even if it meant her feeling helpless.

"I… I have… to do something" Her spluttered voice pleads with him.

Acknowledging that she couldn't just sit around as he felt the need to repel against doing the same he takes the phone he had used to call her on and holds it out to her,

"Do what you need to do"

Billy had just spent his afternoon doing the usual of sitting with her in an afternoon, spending time talking and keeping her company. He had only left to make her dinner and on his return she had gone. He knew as soon as he lay his eyes on her as his stood in the doorway. He knew it could happen any time, and there was a chance there wouldn't be signs or ways to prevent it. Plus it had been one of the last choices his mother of a sound mind actually got to take. If she were to go she wanted to be at home, she didn't want doctors prodding and poking at her or any form of resuscitation. Her suffering was over, and Billy embraced the fact that she was at peace. He would not ring emergency services until he was more than positive there was nothing they could do to try and revive her back into the shell of a mind she no longer possessed.

He thought he had been prepared, but he could never have been completely ready. And it had took strength, every part of him desperate not to lose her, not to go against her wishes and make someone help her. She was his mother, barely a day has passed he hadn't seen or spoken to her, knowing she was there if she needed him. But at the same time… it was a blessing.

With the clock stopped he had no concept of the time, nor how long he sat there holding her chilling hand and reliving fond memories of his childhood, her strict nature but her desperate need just to protect her child. Memories of the good times, times when they might have clashed or not completely understand each other. But he looked on them all with fondness, because they were memories and right now every memory was precious.

It eventually came that the room was in complete darkness and the two of them weren't alone anymore. Bucky had allowed Maggie in, knowing that Billy couldn't keep Roberta up there, knowing what death does to a person and it isn't something either of them felt Billy needed to experience.

Billy had no option but to step back and let the emergency response team do their job, them quickly realizing there was nothing they could do. It was more Maggie who took up the role of being overprotective, and demanding they be careful with her, pointing out if they did any little thing wrong, and making sure Roberta was treated with utmost dignity and respect, making sure she was wrapped up warm.

It felt strange for her to be leaving the house, and despite the fact she had been incapable of making a great deal of noise, the house felt oddly silent without her. Billy hadn't wanted to leave her alone but at the same time he hadn't the strength to go with her.

And as soon as she was gone, bereavement came down upon him and wrapped tightly within Maggie's arms, his head tucked into the nuke of her pit as he finally lets the tears fall, triggering her own as the friend brace each other in their woe.

Bucky had left them to grieve while he shrinks himself down within the basement, feeling his own anguish that consumes him. He had grown extremely fond of the old lady, so much so he felt close to her, felt like if there was anyone he could resonate with it was her. Life had taken from them the most crucial thing needed to live, the mind. But he had regained his, whereas the woman who didn't deserve the fate had lost it indefinitely, taking the end of her days away from her. Days she should have been making the most of but had no choice to be faced with the doom. And it had taken her. Taken her from life and her son. But despite never having heard her voice, or saw the woman she once was, he didn't think anyone in that situation could fear death.

As he sat upon the stairs, with his elbows resting on his knees, his back is crooked to allow for his hands to hold his hair back out of his face, his eyes lost within the rounded full duffle back. It had once been his makeshift punch bag, now it was full of all the belongings he had come to acquire in recent weeks. Things that had been bought and given him, things he owned. All he owned. And the bag taunted him, reminding him of the decision he had made. The decision to leave.

It hadn't been a decision he had taken lightly, because everything about himself wanted him to stay, but he had come to realize that he couldn't always act and make decisions on what he wanted. It had cut him open, and tested his strength and he had pulled through, making his choice.

It hadn't been an easy one to make, and over the last few days he had gone back and forth on himself. Trying to change his mind and find selfless reasons to stay, but today had come and he had managed to convince himself. He had known it would only be a matter of time before his yearning to stay put would incinerate what he thought to be the right decision in flames, so he'd put as many things together in the bag, wrote a brief letter to them and had readied himself to take the step away from the people who had come to be somewhat of a dysfunctional family to him.

But fate had had other ideas. It had taken his resolution away from him in way of taking the life of Roberta away.

It had taken him days to find the courage to leave. But it had taken seconds to change his mind into staying. Again… it wasn't meant to be today.

When he came back up the stairs a little while later, Maggie's arms had been replaced around Billy by Alice, who had rushed over as soon as she heard the news. Possible Maggie had called her, as Billy seemed a little too distracted from doing anything at the present time. But it seemed also that Maggie presence was lacking, he looks back on himself to see if she was out in the garden but there was nobody.

Alice picked up on Bucky's confusion, knowing there could only be one reason, "She left about ten minutes ago. She thought she should go to the hospital, see what's happening…"

She went alone? Why would she do that? She shouldn't be doing such a thing on her own, he fully understood that Billy wasn't up to it but she should have asked him to go with her.

It was only by chance that he took a glimpse out of the window, and takes a double glance at the familiar car he knew to be Maggie's - she hadn't gone anywhere. He was thankful. He turns and is about to explain his decision to go with her but the two seemed to be caught up in a moment, and he had no intentions of interrupting.

Claiming his usual jacket and cap that was beginning to fray on the peak, he slips out of the house and wanders over to the car where a daydreaming Maggie just sat with her hands on the steering wheel, vacant and lost.

The opening of the driver's side door was enough to blink herself back to reality and sees Bucky standing there, doing a beckoning sign with his hand.

"I need to go…" She whispers, her argument showing her emotional exhaustion.

"I know. I'm not stopping you. But I'm coming with you, and you're going to let me drive, okay?" He didn't think it would be wise with her current lack focus to provide the attention it would need to actually drive.

For the first time, she doesn't put up an argument, she simple nods and lets go of the wheel to climb over the gear stick into the passenger seat, allowing him room to slide into the warm seat, startling her slightly as he springs back the seat once he had found the lever, as he needed more leg space.

The journey was made in silence, Maggie too dazed as she looks out of the window, watching the passing night life, people having fun and laughing as they enjoy there Friday night letting their hair down, and she envied them. She wished she could be doing that, rather than on her way to the hospital following a death.

Bucky just follows beside Maggie as she leads us to the appropriate port of the hospital - The Morgue. He stays close by, hiding behind his cap, seeing that as they grew closer to the ward things were getting quieter and quieter, and as they reached their destination, the Lady greeted them with a permanent expression of pity, acting with utmost suitability for the job.

"I'm here for Roberta Cunningham. She was brought in about an hour and a half ago. We got delayed…" Was a pathetic excuse for why she hadn't been here sooner. She should have come straight away not left her on her own. She could see it in the woman's eyes before her. At least she felt she did.

"Okay. That's fine. Um are you relatives?" She asked, necessarily.

"I'm a friend of the family and the nurse who has been taking care of her" Suddenly Maggie is worried that she hasn't got her purse or any ID with her, to prove who she claims to be but Bucky steps forward, erasing the possibility of them being turned away because neither were relatives.

"And I'm her son, William Cunningham" Bucky speaks without falter.

"Of course" She lightly smiles between the two, "If you'd like to take a seat, someone will be with you as soon as possible. There is a tea and coffee machine and water dispenser just through the double doors and to the left"

Bucky nods in gratitude and leads Maggie away by the elbow, and her eyes are too focused on another set of doors, ones that we're for civilian use and she knew where they lead and the familiarity of being faced with them before and her knees wobble and buckle just slightly, but the two manage to grip each other before any incident could take place.

"Hey hey… you're okay. I've got you" Bucky utters, and brings his arms to wrap around her and lead her over to a seat, feeling a slight tremble in her bones and she was so grateful for his presence.

"I'm sorry" Whimpers of weakness from her trigger the shaking of his head as they sit down.

"Don't you apologize."

"I know it's just… memories of these places are never going to be pleasant ones" Her eyes glance around and it is a sizeable area, it just so happened that it was wasted on nobody but the two of them, but it oddly brought comfort. "I spend every day in a hospital, and yet whenever you are here for a personal reason, you can't help having that feeling of dislike."

"I imagine it's natural." Bucky shift back and leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees, "They might be a little different to how I remember them, but majority of reasons for being here come from something negative. Especially a place like this."

"Mmm" She hums in agreement, "You would be surprised though. The amount of people who come through the entrance doors, looking for a place of safety. Looking for comfort. Makes you wonder how lonely or afraid some people must have to be to do that. It wouldn't be at the top of my list of safe places" She wipes her clammy palms on her thighs.

"Then where would?" His own hands were linking together as he looks back over his shoulder to her, where she sat, thinking keeping her talking would give her something else to occupy her mind and he would be grateful for it too.

"The beach" She answers without a second thought, all she needed was instinct, "My mom was from North Carolina and grew up by the beach so her and my dad bought a little house there. We would go down whenever they had a weekend to spare or holidays. It wasn't anything spectacular or grand, but whenever I was there it felt like home. I still dream now, and it's always that house that is the objective of my home. Not my apartment or even our childhood home where I spend most of my growing up. So yeah… that's where I imagine I am when the going gets a little tough."

Incapable of stopping himself Bucky has to close his eyes and let his own imagination build a picture. The scene consists of a straw grass sprouting from the sandy, the breeze from the ocean sweeping it back and forth adding a rich rustling to the natural sounds of the ocean. Maybe along the shore somewhere up ahead there might be a pier. It was an idyllic image he too could find himself being carried away with into tranquillity, and he had never seen the place for himself.

"Sounds perfect. I wouldn't mind a safe place like that…" A touch of a smile graces his lips and as he opens him up to seeing the real world again, and an arch to her cheek with her own.

"Well… I don't mind sharing it with you." Her own heavy lids close in order to picture it, him sitting there beside her on the sands didn't seem to put anything out of place.

The day wore heavy on her eyes, but her longing to sleep the day away would have to wait. She knew they were possible in for a long night of waiting. Things like this couldn't be rushed, and she wanted to make sure she got the truth the moment the coroner had finished his examination, because she couldn't ignore the fear in her heart.

"Bucky?" Address was made to him by the unusual use of his nickname, but right then it made no difference to either of them, "What if… what if this is my fault?" She reveals the fears she hadn't dare speak before now.

His lips begin to part, and she knew by the creases on his forehead he planned to protest but she would not give him the chance, "I know you will say no, because you have a good heart and want to make me feel better. But what if the truth is, she was under my care, and I've been so wrapped up in other things that I missed something. That she was suffering and I didn't notice and do anything about it" She whispers, one because her throat feels saw, and two because she doesn't want anyone but him hearing.

"My Nana, in the end the cause of death was Pneumonia, and in so many cases that is the cause, what if it was the same for Roberta and I didn't notice and I didn't do anything to prevent it?" Her emerald pools, wild with urgency for answers and truth.

"Maggie, don't do this to yourself…" He sits back but etches closer to them in order to use as much of himself to deter her mind from finding blame.

"But what if it's true?" Her eyes were now puddled, "And I made Billy lose his mom." A light bubble of saliva grows with the opening of her lips, only for the air to burst it moments later.

"Shh…" Angled to her, he raises a hand to cup her chin him his thumb and index finger, "There would have been symptoms, symptoms any of us would have seen. Maggie she was dying, and nothing you could have done would change where we are now."

"You don't know that!" Her voice is suddenly rising, enough for the receptionist to look over and she drops her voice immediately, "You can't be sure. Maybe I couldn't have prevented it indefinitely, but there is a chance, no matter how much you deny it, that I could have prolonged it. And if that is the case, then what? She would be dead because of me, she wouldn't be lying on that cold slab alone, she would be warm in bed. And Billy… oh my god… oh god!"

Her thoughts are pitched with a gasp, as she thinks of Billy, and how he had been sobbing in her arms. How his heart had broken and if it was true… how would she ever be able to face him again? How would she ever look him in the eyes?

Bucky would have been able to read her thoughts from a mile off, even the receptionist was alarmed enough to ask if everything was okay, and if Maggie needed anything. Bucky asked for water, just for the privacy so he could rise to his feet and fall back down before her on his knees. He demands that she looks at him, but as her head rolls around in despair, opening her up to demons and darkness someone so beautiful should not be devoured by.

So he forces her. He nudges her knees apart to shuffle closer and claim her head in her hands, "You're going to look at me, and you're going to listen to me. You're going to listen to me good. I will not sit here and let you fall into that trap you understand me?" He ruffles her cheeks slightly, and she can feel the scratch of the meshing of his artificial hand wakening her up to him. "Anything is possible at this point. Even what you fear and if by some fucked up reason it is… you told me not long ago that we were in this together, and like that, we will take this on together and face it _if _it comes to that, and only if. Because I believe this has nothing to do with your failing at anything.

"Roberta was lucky to have you looking after her, and nobody would have been as patient, as thorough and comforting as you. Not even Billy, I have seen the irritation get to his eyes, but you… not once did you let it get under your skin or let it become too much, even when your own personal feelings where strong in your heart. You didn't throw in the towel or lose sight of what she needed, so you can sit here and argue with me until you are blue in the face, get yourself worked up and beat yourself up over something I'm willing to bet my life against and I only just got the bastard back so I'm not going to make a comment like that lightly."

While she may be in denial, she can't help but be enchanted by the passion spilling from him by the bucket load. He did have a particular way of making her listen, and even allow her heart to soak up his efforts, torn with herself on whether she believed him or not.

Her only wish was that it was true. That it wasn't her fault.

"Shhh" Vibrates in Bucky's throat as she drops her head to his shoulder and he holds her, nodding to the receptionist who returns with a plastic cup of water and a cardboard bowel, preparing for if the grieving girl was to be sick like she had seen so many times before.

Bucky's show of gratitude is brief, as is her linger before she left them to it.

It is few hours before there is any sign of a doctor. Maggie had calmed to silence and was sat with her head on Bucky's shoulder, resting her eyes even if any sleep failed to take her.

"Maggie" Bucky whispers, having seen the doctor approaching and with the two of them being the only ones there he wasn't just out here taking a leisurely stroll between autopsies.

Wriggling her hand, to help bringing her out of her daze she snaps up her head and raised to her feel in a matter of second. Her head isn't too thankful however, and Bucky's shoulder comes in handy once more as she grips a hold of it to steady herself, playing ignorant to the dull pain that still sparks now and again from her attempts at boxing a few days previous.

She can do nothing but stand there and wait, wait for him to open his mouth and start speaking. To tell her what happened. As much as she didn't want to know, she needed to.

He seemed to take forever to get to them, and she had no concept of Bucky having taken her hand from his shoulder so he could stand but keeping her stabilized by an arm around her waist, all she could comprehend was the imminent truth that was coming her way.

"Mr Cunningham?" The doctors eyes drift from the frightened looking girl to the man, he had been informed wrongly was the deceased son. However Bucky plays his necessary part,

"Yes" His response short and sweet, because he felt a fear of his own. What if there was something? Only the smallest of thing Maggie missed when tending to Roberta? How would she react? How would she cope?

"Umm…" The doctors takes on board their privacy and holds his hand out to shake, but either take it, both of them see it instead as a signal to sit down. He doesn't correct them at the difficult time; inside he takes a chair to sit before them.

"Firstly, I wish to offer my condolences. I understand that Ms Cunningham was a victim of Dementia and I myself and my family have not long lost someone dear to the Disease" He offers, and while it did help make him seem more human and it sorrowful, Maggie couldn't help but think rather desperately that they weren't here to talk about his dead love one.

"A nasty disease, but anyway I'm sorry to have kept you waiting" He realized he wasn't here to make idle chit chat, as he had said they had waited long enough and were obviously despite for some form of answers and closure.

"After examining Ms Cunningham, my understanding is she was in late stages of her illness and it would have taken its toll drastically. But all things considering she seemed to be in as good nutrition as she could have been, and quite often in cases like this death can be from the smallest infection to Pneumonia; however I'm positive that wasn't the case here. However,…"

Maggie's throat was closing up. Her hand clutching Bucky's parted Jacket.

"…my analysis gives me reason to believe cause of death to be down to the heart. You're mother suffered something called Fatal Arrhythmia. Also referred to as Sudden Cardiac Death. It is when the heart becomes deprived of blood…"

Maggie gasps, and it is more so for the breath she had been holding, and she is disgusted with herself that for a moment she had felt thankful for the revelation. But no sooner had it washed up upon her; she was cascading away leaving her with a vile taste in her mouth and pools of water in her eyes.

"Was she… was she in pain?" It is now Bucky, feeling his own need to know if the lovely tortured old lady had spent her last few minutes on earth in terrible agony. She shouldn't have had a painful death; life had already dealt her enough shit cards.

"More than likely no. Death occurs within minutes with no symptoms beforehand, other than perhaps feeling tired and why it is the leading cause of people dying in their sleep. And I must tell you, that she does look peaceful"

Whether he was saying that to make them feel better or not, Maggie's face if covered in tears but she fails to make a sound. Her own heart takes on board his words and lets it give her a feel of warm. There had been so many things she had wanted to ask, wanting to know everything but it had all fled her mind, and all she could do was think of the imagine of Roberta just lying there, looking asleep and at peace, her sickness having set her free.

The doctor talks for a little while longer, offering information and comfort but Maggie is wrapped up in her own little world, remembering the woman who had once been bold and stern looking. How she used to scare her slightly when she was a child, but how maturity brought respect and fondness and later on watching that moment slowly disappear every time she saw her.

She can barely remember shaking his hand, or Bucky taking her by the shoulders to lead her away. The only she saw the world with her own eyes rather than them being wrapped up with memory in the back of her mind is when the car comes to stop. With fluttering lashes she blinks herself back to life, seeing her apartment building for her.

"Why are we here?" Her actions are exhibited by a course of anxiety.

"Maggie it's over one o'clock in the morning. You need to rest before we contend with what is to come tomorrow." He looks over to her and the permanent rawness encircling her tarnished eyes.

"No…" Her copper tresses sway as she uses her head to signal protest, "I have to go… I have to see Billy and explain…"

"No you don't. Plus he might very well be sleeping, he hasn't text in a while and-"

But Maggie interrupts, moving closer, "Bucky I don't… I don't want to be on my own. I want to be there… okay?" she reveals her real reason, with her eyes holding trepidation. She couldn't face her apartment, even if he was to suggest he stay with her.

He doesn't say anything; he doesn't need to, if anything he felt better for the idea of not leaving her alone. He probably wouldn't have, he would have found some way to be close whether she had known it or not, but by not being alone she craved Billy's home rather than her own and it doesn't take anything else for him to comply and restart the engine.

"How do you think we should tell him?" Maggie queries as they arrive outside of Billy's home, and Bucky simple shake his head.

"Honestly. But not tonight, unless he asks. Come on" He nudges his head towards the doors, and takes himself out of the car, Maggie following momentarily behind him, waiting for her so she could unlock the door, but it wasn't needed as it began to open by itself as though someone had seen and heard them approaching, and the open door reveals a tender expressive Alice.

It turns out she couldn't sleep, but Billy had not long managed to drop off in bed after the effects of exhaustion from upset and heartbreak had taken its toll. Alice however seemed wide awake and had just popped down to get a drink and it just happened that they had arrived by for her to greet them and ask a few short questions of whether they were okay and also as to how things went, without seeming insensitive.

"Alice, would you mind if we speak about it tomorrow, when we're all together" Bucky glimpses over to the tentative fair girl whose skin shines translucent in the moonlight, her hair almost white.

"Of course." She watches Maggie sit down on the sofa and a caring Bucky bring together some blankets and cushions to bring Maggie enough comfort to sleep, "Do you need me to do anything?"

"No Alice. Just… take care of Billy. He needs you" Maggie offers the girl a sorrowful smile and a squeeze of the hand. She was thankfully for her being here right now. Maggie would do her best to support her best friend, but her involvement might mean it wouldn't be best for Billy and all he needed right now. Alice had a less of attachment to Roberta, she was here because of Billy and nobody else and she obviously cared about him greatly.

None of them said much more before Alice left, other than a wish of good night, which was returned by the both of them before she ascended the stares and returned to a sleeping Billy who seemed to be murmuring in his lightly sleep. Gently crawling into bed beside him, she curls up against his back and sooths his growing curls with her fragile fingers and stroke the behind of his ear with her knuckle how she had quickly learned relaxed him.

***T*C***

It turns out Bucky wasn't the only one who needed someone close to him, Maggie had craved the same thing, having given an excuse of the springs in the sofa hurting her back they littered the floor with the cushioning of the sofa and armchair, a makeshift bed for the both of them to share, but lacking space, enough to draw the two together.

Bucky may have been cautious, but he couldn't deny her need for solace and if he could bring her that by holding her he couldn't deny her. Deny either of them.

"James?"

"Mmm?"

"Do you think, when we die we really are at peace?" Her voice is murmured like a child, "I don't necessary believe in any religion, but do you think there is some place out there? Somewhere we go?" Her head had been cocked just enough to project her voice, but it quickly returns to its place of cosiness upon his chest.

Horizontal lines on the ceiling are what hold his eyes, the shadows of nothing more than the streetlight outside offering a comforting glow, but it is the shadows of the window blinds that keep him gripped, as through searching in them for an answer.

"I don't know" He answers honestly. She was a girl who focused on fact, but like us all we sometimes wonder about what none of us really know or can prove. He did have something to offer her though, but he wasn't sure if it would give her the comfort and answers she needed in that moment.

"When I fell… for a long time all I could feel was the cold and the pain it brought with it. It numbed any broken bones, that wasn't the pain I felt, it was the cold that crept into them that made them feel like blades tearing me to shred…"

Maggie can't help but deny herself any ease from what he is saying as he can paint a picture.

"I feel like I'm screaming, and the train is blazing towards me but then suddenly everything stopped. My lungs didn't crave air anymore, my bones didn't hurt. I couldn't feel a thing other than warmth and flashes of bright vivid colours. I think it was death… of course I'm still alive but it was taking me and I didn't have to fight anymore. I suppose that would be peace, right?" He glances down at her on his chest, while also feeling her head nodding.

"I think… I think I've felt it too." Her flaccid mind leaves room for her mouth to speak without thinking and the hard figure under her was suddenly a little more rigid.

"When?" He is unsure if he wanted to know why she could have been in a situation facing death or it closing in on her, but he had already asked and it got the better of him.

"Not tonight…" She couldn't, not right now.

"You can't say something like that to me and then not explain, Maggie" Almost soundly like a whining child, or a nosy old busy body wanting to hear gossip.

"I will, but not tonight… what difference would it make? It doesn't matter now; I'm here, you're here, both breathing and healthy. More important and relevant things to be focusing on" She fights with the craving of her leg to hook it over him, but she couldn't even if she'd tried as his knee was bent up where he lay as though to prevent her, always taking precaution.

She hadn't the strength to push his boundaries tonight.

***T*C***

She had fallen asleep upon Bucky's chest; this heart below her hand had given her eyes something to watch before she had slipped into her slumber. However when she awoke, groggy with sleep and tiredness that still set in her bones, she can't ignore the feeling below her head, the plump softness that should offer bliss but instead held the opposite because it wasn't created by him, but out of loneliness.

Allowing her eyes to roam, she rolls onto her back and sit up to the still abandoned room and she couldn't stop herself from getting up in order to look for him. Wanting to bring him back, wanting to see his eyes and knows if he had once again denied himself of sleep.

She opens her mouth to call out, but no sound other than a light crackles emits from her lips and her throat that is bone dry and in need of water.

The kitchen was just as vacant as the living room, but not as quiet. There was a distant rustling sound and she follows it to the open basement door.

About to call out to him to see if he was down there, there is no need as she sees him down there, putting an end to her wondering and even a small piece of worry.

Observing him was what brought on the lazy curling of her lips, but it took but seconds to witness what he was actually doing.

At first she doesn't understand why he would be taking all his belongings out of a duffle; sleep wouldn't allow her to fully comprehend the purpose of them being in there in the first place. He would only need to have packed his things away if he had been planning on…

Maggie was suddenly more than awake.

An aching in her chest speaks the truth to her.

He had been planning to leave.

* * *

**She knew he was going to leave :( but he stayed so that's one positive thing at the moment.**

**Please leave me a review *Bats lashes*  
**

**Danielle xx**


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